Spectacle on “El Gordo”: Spanish Christmas lottery begins trip to the US: Selenskyj visits a foreign capital for the first time since the beginning of the war

The children don’t sing pretty melodies, yet their singing will delight thousands of Spaniards on Thursday when their number is drawn in the Spanish Christmas Lottery. As has been the case for generations, the winning numbers in the world’s oldest lottery are sung live on television by 8- to 14-year-old students at the venerable San Ildefonso Boarding School.

The tradition of auditions began in the 19th century. The children of the then orphanage had already made a name for themselves by singing the results of lotteries in the street for a few coins or singing at funerals. Girls have only been allowed to participate since 1984. For the little ones, the training for the big day always starts in the summer. A lot could be bought from July.

The TV broadcast lasts about four hours, with every step of the draw being closely followed. A large grid ball contains 100,000 small wooden balls with numbers and a smaller ball contains 1807 balls with prizes. The choreography is always the same. Each individual ball is shown by a child, the value is sung and then recorded. The hall is home to the lottery’s most loyal supporters, some of whom have been queuing for days to get a seat. Some are elaborately disguised, all hold their breath at each new ball.

Launched more than 200 years ago, the lottery is characterized by a particularly large number of prizes, which are not as staggering as some other lotteries. The main prize, called “El Gordo” (the fat one), is four million euros for a whole ticket. It is paid out 180 times because each of the 100,000 ticket numbers has been sold the same number of times. The smallest win is at least 9999 times, but then you only get your bet back.

Since most people only buy a tenth ticket for 20 euros, they are entitled to 400,000 euros for the Gordo. But before that, the state intervenes and withholds 20 percent tax on all profits of 40,000 euros or more. Of the 400,000 euros, 328,000 euros would then be paid out. The main winner of the lottery, in which some 2.5 billion euros in prizes are distributed, is therefore already certain: it is the Treasury. (cpf/sda/dpa)