The French winner of the 200 million euros won in December 2020 at the euro Millions will pay almost all of the sum to a foundation he created for the preservation of the environment.
As he had dreamed, the French winner of the 200 million euros won in December 2020 at the euro Millions will pay almost all of the sum to a foundation he created for the preservation of the environment, according to information from the newspaper Le Parisien confirmed by AFP. No sports cars, boats or castles for this lucky guy, but rather a foundation dedicated to “the protection and revitalization of forests, the preservation and regeneration of biodiversity and the support of family caregivers”, as explained on the site of the Anyama endowment fund.
“I only played during important prize pools, for one purpose: to devote the major part of this sum to the creation of a foundation”, affirmed the multimillionaire in an open letter available on the website of Anyama, a foundation which bears the name of an Ivorian town near Abidjan where he lived.
“Great First”
In correspondence with Le Parisien, the one whom the Française des jeux (FDJ) nicknamed “Guy” assured that he had already “transmitted most” of his gain to his endowment fund since his victory in December 2020, and specified that he would give “gradually almost all” to this same foundation. He explains that he intends to “continue to live peacefully, in the most total discretion”. No information about him is provided on the site of his foundation, which on the other hand highlights the identity of the experts from various backgrounds who work for Anyama. “During my life, I have witnessed in Côte d’Ivoire the incessant passage of trucks loaded with cut trees in the forests of Burkina Faso. This ballet of trucks marked me a lot, indignant”, indicated the generous donor in his open letter.
Asked by AFP, the FDJ described a donation of such magnitude as a “great first” and the reasons which led the winner to play, stressing that “it is not uncommon for the winners to be generous, but this which is a first, it is the proportion of the gain paid to a philanthropic cause”. This jackpot of 200 million euros is the second biggest win ever won in France. The largest in history in France, a gain of 220 million euros, was won almost a year later, in October 2021 by a Frenchman.