With more than $2.8 billion in rewards warbled out by schoolchildren and broadcast live across the globe, Spain’s 200-year-old holiday lottery, “The Fat One,” provided a substantial jackpot once again this year.
The nation’s premier opera house, Teatro Real, in the capital, Madrid, hosted the yearly drawing for “El Gordo” on Sunday.
It has no single prize, in contrast to many lotteries, and the winnings are dispersed among thousands of participants via a sophisticated algorithm. Families, coworkers, and acquaintances frequently join together throughout the nation by pooling their funds to purchase tickets.
Since stores often only sell one or two numbers and multiple tickets with the same number might be sold, the people who win the biggest rewards frequently reside in the same area.
With one of the biggest lottery prize pools in the world, El Gordo, which takes place every year on December 22, is a significant aspect of Spain’s Christmas season. Originally held in 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars and organized by the Spanish government, the drawing is broadcast live on national television and streamed live throughout the world.
According to El Gordo’s official website, a number of ticket holders with the number 72480 purchased in the northern city of Logro o, the seat of the La Rioja region, won the top prize of 400,000 euros ($416,588) on Sunday.
125,000 euros ($130,184) was the second award, and 50,000 euros ($52,073) was the third.
After the winners were revealed, there were, as usual, wild celebrations all around the nation, with some opening bottles of Prosecco while surrounded by loved ones.
People from all over the nation gathered to see the drawing, which started at 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET).
The winners were announced by singing the numbers and the associated prize amounts, which are selected from wooden balls, by students from San Ildefonso, a primary school that has been around for more than 500 years, ranging in age from 8 to 14.
Players purchase printed tickets with numbers they did not individually select because tickets are printed and sold in series.
According to the official website, the number of series varies year, and this year each number had 193 copies, indicating that many people had the same winning ticket number.
According to the Gordo website, the majority of the winners were from Madrid, the capital of Spain.
Players can choose to buy two types of tickets: either a full ticket, called a billete, which costs 200 ($208), or a d cimo, costing 20 (nearly $21), which is a tenth the size.
It is common for groups of people to divide the cost of billetes to play as part of syndicates because of the high cost, according to the Gordo website.
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