Lilita Eglīte from Mārupe has won the main prize of EUR 15,000 in the lottery held by the local retail store chain top!. The lucky purchase was made on 17 August at the top! store at 27 Daugavas Street, Mārupe. Lilita learnt about the lottery from a sales assistant, who handed her a lottery booklet featuring a horse, her favourite animal. She saw it as a sign from fate that prompted her to try her luck.
“Although there are many large stores in Mārupe, I always enjoy visiting top! because it is cosy and has items that are not available elsewhere, but this time a special thank you goes to the top! sales assistant who handed me the lottery booklet. If it weren’t for her, I would have missed the lottery! The booklet featured a picture of a horse, which piqued my interest immediately, because I used to ride horses and adore them. I took it as a sign, and in the end, my instincts were correct: the horse proved to be my lucky charm,” says Lilita.
The lucky purchase that brought in EUR 15,000 was quite small and ordinary: a shopping bag, a bun, smoked bacon, and marinated chicken, all for just EUR 17.36. Lilita discovered that she had won the lottery in an unexpected way, and she felt sceptical about it initially.
“I got a call from top! late in the evening, and it felt strange. At first, I didn’t believe it, and my immediate reaction was to suspect it was a scam, as scammers nowadays often come up with all sorts of schemes, and I had completely forgotten about the lottery,” Lilita shares her experience. “After the conversation, I realised that it was all real, but now I was worried that I could have thrown away the lucky receipt. We sort the trash, and I have a special bag for paper, but since the trash is taken out every month, I was afraid that the receipt might be gone”.
Having rummaged through the bag, which paper waste usually ends up, she luckily found the envelope where she had placed the receipt and the remarkable lottery booklet with a horse – the symbol of the lottery and Lilita’s lucky charm, which once again proved its significance.
Lilita admits that she does not often participate in lotteries and this is her biggest win. She sees it as a hopeful sign that her dream might actually come true.
“I dance in the middle-generation dance group Greizie rati at the Berģi Culture Centre of Ropaži Municipality and have a cherished dream of attending the dance festival in Australia next year, though it comes with significant expenses. For me, this win seems like an incentive, a springboard for being there and dancing,” Lilita shares her thoughts on how to spend her win.
“We are overjoyed for everyone who won one of the cash prizes in this lottery and was able to make a dream come true or pay for everyday expenses with it, and we are especially happy for Lilita, who claimed the grand prize of EUR 15,000 – her unusual story is a testament to faith and demonstrates the power of gut feeling and signs. It is so moving how the personal touch of our employees – the handed-out booklet – was able to set off a chain reaction of luck, culminating in a EUR 15,000 win. Lilita’s story serves as a reminder to all of us of how important it is to stop for a while in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and pay attention to small details and signs. Our goal at top! stores is to create not only a comfortable, but also a warm atmosphere where our customers feel valued and noticed, as illustrated by Lilita’s story. We congratulate Lilita Eglīte and the other participants on their victory and wish them good luck in the future too!,” says Ilze Priedīte, Member of the Management Board and Marketing Director of the store chain top!.
From 15 August 2024 to 6 November 2024, everyone had the opportunity to win one of 3 cash prizes of EUR 1,000 euros, along with 36 cash prizes of EUR 100, and a grand prize valued at EUR 15,000. The total prize pool of the lottery was EUR 21,600. To enter the lottery, the customer had to make a regular purchase at a top! store for at least EUR 10, register the purchase receipt on the website www.toploterija.lv and save it to present in case of winning. Lottery permit No. 8224. The full list of winners is available on the website www.toloterija.lv.
About the retail store chain top!
The retail store chain top! is the largest store chain owned by Latvian business and the third largest retail chain in Latvia. There are currently 209 food stores in Latvia operating under the trademark top!, owned by 12 local companies. In total, more than 4,000 jobs are provided, supporting local producers and suppliers across Latvia.