Christmas lottery: Long wait for the main prize

Spain - Christmas lottery: Long wait for the main prize

Millions of Spaniards not only needed a lot of luck this year when the lucky numbers were drawn in the world-famous Spanish Christmas lottery on Friday, but also a lot of patience. The main prize "El Gordo", the big one, was only drawn at the very 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 tax. Most of the 185 tickets with the grand 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 ten-dollar ticket for 20 euros, which most people buy, the lucky winners are entitled to 400,000 euros for the"Gordo". Before that, however, the tax authorities deduct 20 percent tax from all winnings of 40,000 euros or more. Of the 400,000 euros, 328,000 euros are then paid out. In any case, the main winner is the state. In total, there were tickets for 3.7 billion euros. Almost 2.6 billion euros will be paid out in winnings this year.

Hours of chanting

The draw began at 9.00 a.m. in the Teatro Real opera house in Madrid. Pupils from the Ildefonso boarding school aged 8 to 14 sang out the ticket numbers and the corresponding prize amounts, as they do every year on December 22. It was not until 1.15 p.m. that a little boy called out the main prize in a voice that rang out. The tradition of the audition dates back to the 19th century. Cheers broke out in the auditorium, where the most loyal supporters of the Christmas lottery were sitting, even though none of them had won the main prize.

Dressed up as Santas or other imaginary characters, they watched the children sing for hours, sometimes holding their breath, sometimes applauding when bigger prizes were awarded. This year there was even a "pope", a perfectly disguised man with his shy son. The two of them challenged luck with two very special ticket numbers: 00000 and 99999, the lowest and the highest.

But apart from the hope of winning big money, the Christmas lottery in Spain is above all a lot of fun. TV stations reported live from lottery sales outlets where winning tickets had been sold. Owners and sellers are almost as happy as if they had won themselves, champagne is flowing in streams. And that also applies to the millions of players who came away empty-handed. "Being there is everything," two women who had printed their tickets on large sheets of paper and wore them like aprons in front of their stomachs told TV station RTVE in Madrid.

Millions of people in front of the screens

Millions of people across the country sat in front of their screens to make sure they didn't miss a single moment of the live broadcast, which lasted several hours. The lottery, which was launched more than 200 years ago, is characterized by its many prizes, which are not as dizzyingly large as in some other lotteries.

Traditionally, families, work colleagues or groups of friends buy one or more whole tickets, which cost 200 euros each, together. For many, the special attraction of the Christmas lottery is the joint decision as to which number to bet on, the shared hope of a lucky draw and the collective trepidation during the drawing of the winning numbers. Even a blank is easier to get over in a group.

The drawing of the winning numbers always follows a strict ritual. A large grid ball contains 100,000 small wooden balls with five-digit winning numbers and a smaller grid ball contains 1807 balls with the prize money printed on them. One ball falls from each of the two grid balls into a bowl at the same time: the winning number and the corresponding prize. Each individual ball is sung by the children and then registered and secured.