CATHOLIC OFFICIALS have warned Italians against worshipping money as fever mounts over a lottery prize now worth €131.5 million, the largest ever seen in Europe.
People have been queuing outside tobacconists across the country to buy tickets for the SuperEnalotto, which has rolled over 82 times since January.
“This is a form of idolatry, where we turn not to God but to money,” the bishop of Palestrina, Domenico Sigalini, told Vatican Radio. “History teaches us that everyone who wins billions ends up badly – it’s bad, not good, luck.”
The prize is bigger than the €126.2 million won by a Spanish woman in the Euromillions lottery in May, and has racked up €1.64 billion in ticket sales, with 338 million six-number combinations played last week.
The lottery plays on Italy’s superstitious fondness for numerology, particularly in the south, another thorn in the side of church leaders. Events and objects often have associated numbers which are bet on, with death for Neapolitans represented by 13, sex by 42, and mozzarella made with cow’s milk by 68. Mozzarella made with buffalo’s milk is 12.
The Italian treasury receives 49.5 per cent of the SuperEnalotto revenue.