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Drawing begins for Spain’s $2.4 billion ‘El Gordo’ lottery

Lottery fever gripped Spain on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ Time) as thousands celebrated wins in the El Gordo draw with prizes totalling €2.24 billion (NZ$3.6 billion), offering a welcome distraction from political concerns after an inconclusive election.

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People can’t pick their own numbers, so if they want a certain one they have to go online to find out if it exists and if so which agency or agencies are selling it.


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It’s estimated that three quarters of the Spanish population but at least one ticket every year.


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“They went to workers who need it a lot”, she said “And to top it off, they were distributed by the kids”. Because the price of a single ticket (€200, or about $219) is so expensive, Spaniards pool their money to buy tickets – and share the wealth, should their number come up.

“With unmatched 1 in 100,000 odds of winning a £2.8 million jackpot with each ticket bought, it is no wonder why the Spanish Christmas Lottery is such a phenomenon”.

“I feel a great joy, mainly because it’s so well spread out, especially among workers”, Jose Martin said. A ticket costs $218 each.

People are reflected in a shop window decorated for Christmas and New Year celebrations as they line up along a street waiting to buy lottery tickets in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015.

The lottery was first established as a charity in 1763, during the reign of King Carlos III, but its objective gradually shifted toward filling state coffers. The world’s biggest lottery takes place in Spain on … While other national lotteries (and, in the US, state and multi-state lotteries, such as Powerball and Mega Millions) offer bigger top prizes, El Gordo has the most money poured into it, and the most money poured back out, after the Spanish government’s 30 percent take off the top.

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The prize ticket numbers are sung out by pupils of Madrid’s Saint Ildefonso School in a nationally televised event from the city’s Teatro Real opera house.

Spaniards queue to buy ticket for world's richest lottery, El Gordo