A Spanish widow is fighting to claim a €35,000 lottery prize after discovering she had been placed on a gambling self-exclusion register without her knowledge. (Image: Michael M. Santiago/Getty)Carmen, from Los Alcázares in the southeastern Murcia region, won Spain’s ONCE Lottery prize in August 2025 and hoped to use the money to fund a long-awaited trip to Portugal, according to El País. The document, obtained by El País, authorized her husband to file the request on her behalf because she was supposedly suffering a temporary incapacity that prevented her from traveling. The lottery operator said it has no discretion to pay prizes to people listed on the self-exclusion register. María told El País that her mother, who has Parkinson’s disease, has struggled to understand why she cannot collect a prize she legitimately won and has become convinced that those around her are deceiving her.