by Hillary LaClair, Senior Editor
April 17, 2009
73 year-old Perseverando Peralto Valdez became the real version Alanis Morissette’s song “Ironic” this week, having suffered a heart attack after hearing that he won what amounts to $436 in a sports betting pool in Paraguay.
Valdez, who worked as a peddler at Asuncion’s main bus depot, reportedly collapsed Thursday on one of the platforms of the depot while he searched for the agent that sold him the winning ticket. The crafts seller reportedly died in front of a lottery ticket vendor while trying to cash in his ticket. Vladez won just over 1 million Colombian pesos in a popular game of “chance or pools” according to a Paraguayan press release on Friday.
“Don Perseverando approached me and told me that he won the sports lottery,” said Agustin Ferreira, one of the vendors in the sports betting terminal, noting that the prize of the ticket was 2.18 guaranies, or $436.
The cash was given to Valdez’s wife after he was pronounced dead from a heart attack. The family reports that the money will be used for the funeral service. “The silver is removed with a little help to pay the expenses of burial of my uncle,” said Francisco Rodrquez, nephew of the deceased who sold crafts alongside his uncle in a rough translation provided by Google. Valdez was a “fanatical player of the pools,” he noted.
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