A group of 165 people from a Belgian village has collectively won more than €143m in the EuroMillions lottery.

The residents from Olmen, in the Antwerp province, paid equally into a pot to buy tickets at their local newsagent.

Each of them won about €868,000 according to the Belgian National Lottery.

There were more than 27 million entries for Tuesday’s draw.

EuroMillions said the final jackpot was €142,897,164.

Joke Vermoere, a spokesperson for the National Lottery, said group successes weren’t uncommon in Belgium – but that this was the biggest group win ever.

Ms Vermoere was at the newsagents on Wednesday when some of the winners heard the news. Their reactions ranged from stoicism to euphoria, she said.

She described the win as the “best Christmas present”.

The owner of the newsagent, who has organised similar group pots for several years, told Belgium Radio he had to repeat the news “five to six times” as his customers could not believe that they had won.

The identities of the winners have not been revealed.

The EuroMillions jackpot is organised in nine European countries: Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

The winning numbers for Tuesday were 12, 20, 25, 26 and 27, with Lucky Stars eight and 12.