The main prize of the Baby Jesus lottery goes back to northern Spain

All tickets with the lucky number 89,603 were sold in the small coastal town of L’Escala.

The picturesque town on the Costa Brava in Catalonia in the far northeast of Spain has just over 10,000 inhabitants. Being a tourist region, people in other parts of Spain and even foreign tourists should also be happy with the windfall if they bought lottery tickets while on holiday in L’Escala. The owner of the point of sale, Félix Pons, spoke on the TV channel RTVE about “ecstasy” and great joy among the neighbors.

Just over two weeks after the “El Gordo” Christmas lottery, “El Niño” also brought prizes to thousands of people across the country. The second prize of 37.5 million in total, which went to number 72289, was more evenly distributed. Players from all regions of Spain cheered. The third prize went to lot number 18918, for which a total of 12.5 million euros was distributed. As every year, millions of people at home, in cafes, pubs and restaurants watched the live television broadcast of the lucky number draw in Madrid on Epiphany.

Last year, the main prize went to one very special region: the red wine stronghold of La Rioja, also in the north of the country. While people celebrated with red wine, the famous Catalan sparkling wine Cava naturally flowed freely in L’Escala.

The earliest antecedents of the Baby Jesus lottery date back to the 19th century. In its current form, it has existed since 1941. In Spain, only the Christmas lottery is even bigger. On December 22, the profit of a total of more than 2.5 billion euros had already been distributed throughout Spain. This traditional lottery has been around for over 200 years. It is considered the largest and oldest in the world.

(SDA)