Games of chance - Christmas lottery casts its spell over Spain
Spain is once again witnessing a huge spectacle today when the winning numbers of the traditional Christmas lottery are determined. Millions of Spaniards sit in front of their televisions and prick up their ears when the winning numbers in the world's oldest lottery are sung out by children in the Teatro Real in Madrid. As is the case every year, the task, which is also an honor, falls to pupils aged 8 to 14 from the venerable San Ildefonso boarding school on 22 December.
Four hours of TV coverage
The tradition of auditions began in the 19th century, but girls have only been allowed to sing winning numbers since 1984. They have practiced every two days since October so that everything goes like clockwork on Friday. The little ones will probably still have stage fright, because performing in front of millions of spellbound viewers would make most adults break out in a sweat.
The TV broadcast lasts around four hours, during which every step of the draw is meticulously monitored. A large grid ball contains 100,000 small wooden balls, each with five numbers from 00000 to 99999, and a smaller ball contains 1807 balls with the prizes. The choreography is always the same. Each individual ball is presented by a child, the value is sung out and then recorded. The most loyal fans of the lottery sit in the auditorium, some of whom have been queuing for days to get a place. Some are elaborately dressed up and everyone holds their breath with each new ball.
Especially many prizes
The lottery, which was launched more than 200 years ago, is characterized by a particularly large number of prizes, almost 2000, which are not as dizzyingly large as in some other lotteries. Because so many people win something, the excitement and fun of the spectacle is enormous every year. The main prize, known as "El Gordo" (the big one), is four million euros for a whole ticket. It will be paid out 185 times this year, as every single one of the 100,000 ticket numbers has been sold just as often. The smallest prize is paid out 9999 times, but then you only get your stake back.
As most people only buy a ten-digit ticket for 20 euros, they are entitled to 400,000 euros for the Gordo. Before that, however, the state intervenes and deducts 20 percent tax from all winnings of 40,000 euros or more. Of the 400,000 euros, 328,000 euros would then be paid out. In total, there were lots for 3.7 billion euros. Just under 2.6 billion euros will be paid out in winnings this year.
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Source: www.stern.de
