Long wait for “El Gordo”: Spanish Christmas lottery announces main prize

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The main prize, ‘El Gordo’, the fat one, was only drawn at the end of the more than four-hour event – later than ever before in the history of the world’s oldest lottery, Spanish media wrote on Friday.

But the wait was worth it, at least for those who bought a ticket with the number 88008: they are entitled to four million euros minus taxes. The majority of the 185 tickets with the main prize number were sold in the Valencia region on the Mediterranean, especially in the small town of Vilamarxant with just under 10,000 inhabitants.

For a tenth ticket of 20 euros, which most people buy, the lucky winners are entitled to 400,000 euros for the ‘Gordo’. But before that, the tax authorities withhold 20 percent tax on all profits of 40,000 euros or more. Of the 400,000 euros, 328,000 euros will then be paid out. The main winner is without a doubt Father State. In total there were tickets worth 3.7 billion euros. This year, almost 2.6 billion euros in profits will be paid out.

The draw started at 9am at the Teatro Real opera house in Madrid. Like every year, students from Ildefonso boarding school aged 8 to 14 sang out the lottery numbers and the associated winning amounts on December 22. It wasn’t until 1:15 p.m. that a little boy with a cracking voice announced the grand prize. The tradition of auditioning dates back to the 19th century. The hall, where the Christmas Lottery’s most loyal supporters were sitting, erupted into cheers, even though none of them had apparently won the main prize.

Dressed as Santa Claus or other imaginary figures, they watched for hours as the children sang, sometimes with bated breath, sometimes clapping when bigger prizes were awarded. This year there was even a “Pope” present, a perfectly dressed man with his shy son. The two tested their luck with two very special ticket numbers: 00000 and 99999, the lowest and the highest.

But besides the hope of a big windfall, the Christmas lottery in Spain is above all great fun. TV stations reported live from the lottery windows where winning tickets had been sold. Owners and sellers are happy as if they have won themselves, the champagne is flowing freely. And that includes millions of players who came away empty-handed. “Being there is everything,” two women who printed their tickets on large sheets of paper and wore them like aprons over their stomachs told Madrid TV channel RTVE.

Millions of people across the country sat in front of their screens so as not to miss a moment of the hours-long live broadcast. The lottery, which was founded more than 200 years ago, is characterized by many prizes that are not as staggeringly large as some other lotteries.

Traditionally, families, colleagues or groups of friends buy one or more whole tickets together, each costing at least 200 euros. Jointly deciding on which number to bet, the shared hope for good luck and the collective trembling when drawing the winning numbers, that is what makes the Christmas Lottery so special for many people. Even failure is easier to overcome in a group.

The drawing of the winning numbers always takes place according to a strict ritual. A large grid ball contains 100,000 small wooden balls with five-digit winning numbers and a smaller grid ball contains 1,807 balls with the prize money printed on them. At the same time, one ball from each of the two grid balls falls into a bowl: the winning number and the corresponding prize. Each individual ball is sung by the children and then registered and secured. (SDA)

Source: Blick