Lady Luck smiled down on the Vega Baja region, as the first prize in the National Lottery draw was awarded in Rojales, where one of the winning tickets was sold. The draw, which took place on Saturday, May 9, resulted in the winning ticket number 21,254, worth €600,000 per series, meaning €60,000 per ticket.

Rojales’ lucky locals: Major prize awarded in the Costa Blanca South municipality

The winning ticket was sold at the lottery administration located at Calle Valentín Fuster, Number 16 in the Costa Blanca municipality of Rojales. Apart from the jaw-dropping sum, the awarding of this prize was especially significant for the administration: this was the first major prize it has distributed since 2022, the year in which it distributed the second prize of the National Lottery in the Thursday draw.

How the Spanish National Lottery works

In Spain, the Thursday National Lottery tickets, called décimos, are sold for €3 each on average, and the first prize is usually €30,000. The Saturday National Lottery tickets are more varied, ranging anywhere in price from €6, to €20, and can produce a prize ranging from €60,000 to €120,000 for whoever is lucky enough to snag the winning ticket.

Other major prizes awarded this year on the Costa Blanca

This is far from the first time that residents have struck gold on the Costa Blanca. Earlier this year, a Benidorm lottery office struck gold twice in just four days. The winning ticket number, 46,705, was awarded the second prize of the National Lottery on January 10, worth a jaw-dropping €300,000 per number, and was sold at El Racó de La Sort, located on one of Benidorm’s main tourist and commercial arteries.

This exciting award came just four days after the same outlet sold winning tickets for the first prize of the El Niño draw, making it the second major prize in less than a week for the lottery office.

The Torrevieja Town Hall has officially opened registration for its Concilia Verano 2026 programme, an initiative that aims to bring families together during the summer in a safe, educational, and leisure space for the children in the town. The Town Hall, through the Department of Social Welfare, has launched this new edition of the initiative, and registration will remain open until June 8.

Torrevieja’s new edition of the summer school programme

The Concilia Verano is a summer school that will take place during July and August at the CEIP Maestro Salvador Ruso, and is aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 12 in Torrevieja. In total, the programme will have 100 open slots for the months of July and August each, and 10 additional monthly places will be reserved for children who require specific educational needs.

New additions: A free lunch service and more flexibility

One of the newer additions to the programme is the free lunch service, which will take place every day from 2:00pm to 3:00pm for the children who request them. This edition of the initiative will also include a Morning Classroom event at 8:00am, which is specially designed to help parents who need to go to their jobs early in the morning.

During the summer school, a wide range of fun, educational, and leisure activities will be offered for the children, promoting values including coexistence, camaraderie, creativity, teamwork and healthy habits. The summer school will also always be supervised by specialised professionals.

A fundamental programme for the parents of Torrevieja

Torrevieja officials have stressed the importance of this programme to support families in the municipality, especially in homes where both parents work full- or part-time. These municipal resources guarantee consistent and quality care for the children during the summer holidays.

Registration can be carried out electronically through the official Torrevieja Town Hall’s electronic offices, or in person by collecting and submitting forms at the Social Welfare offices. Parents who cannot commit to a full month will also be offered the chance to register for two-week periods, allowing them greater flexibility and adaptation to their schedules and needs.

Residents in Pilar de la Horadada will benefit from a new community wellbeing initiative, aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles (both physical and emotional) and social connection among the neighbours. The “Pilar Takes Care” programme (“El Pilar se cuida”) has been launched by the Pilar de la Horadada Town Hall’s Department of Health, and is part of a wider plan to improve health and wellbeing in the Community of Valencia.

Combining physical and emotional wellbeing in Pilar de la Horadada

The programme involves emotional wellbeing workshops in combination with guided walking routes, which will encourage residents to stay active, stay in touch with their mental health, and find a balance for their overall wellbeing. 

The workshops will aim to educate different population groups about managing emotions, self-care, how to reduce stress, how to improve social relationships, and how to foster coexistence in the community. The walks, on the other hand, will offer a fun challenge that people of all fitness levels will be able to take part in. The workshops will reinforce the idea that physical and mental health are often inseparable, and encourage the community to stay active.

A free programme to respond to a need for balance in the community

The programme was developed in response to last year’s health diagnosis findings in the municipality, which showed that emotional wellbeing was a growing priority for the citizens of Pilar de la Horadada and in the whole of Valencia. 

The activities in the programme will be free of charge and open to the public, and specific details about where and when the individual workshops will take place will be announced through the official communication channels of the Pilar de la Horadada Town Hall in the coming weeks.

The Pilar de la Horadada Town Council hopes that the initiative will inspire residents to take care of both their minds and bodies in a holistic approach to health, and that the residents will be provided with all the tools they need to manage their stress, find a balance in their lives, and stay active in their communities and neighbourhoods.