Children from San Ildefonso School in Madrid sing the numbers of one of the main prizes from the lottery balls awarded in Madrid, Spain, Friday, December 22, 2023.
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Children from San Ildefonso School in Madrid sing the numbers of one of the main prizes from the lottery balls awarded in Madrid, Spain, Friday, December 22, 2023.
Paul White/AP
€20 ticket holders will celebrate No. 88008 on Friday. Each of them won 400,000 euros ($440,000), or about 325,000 euros after taxes, in the grand prize in Spain's huge Christmas lottery.
People across the country are tuning in on TV, radio and the Internet from early in the morning as the children of Madrid's San Ildefonso school begin singing the winning numbers in a lottery known as “El Gordo” (The Fat Number).
The hugely popular lottery will hand out prizes totaling €2.6 billion this year, most of it in the form of small winnings. Celebrations usually break out in the streets and bars, with the winners opening bottles of sparkling wine and singing and dancing.
The event is broadcast nationally from the Teatro Real opera house in Madrid.
Buying and sharing tickets, known in Spanish as “décimos” (tithes) in the run-up to Christmas, is a major tradition among families, friends, work colleagues and in bars, sports and social clubs.
A Christmas lottery seller searches for customers on a busy street in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, December 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Paul White)
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A Christmas lottery seller searches for customers on a busy street in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, December 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Paul White)
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The winning numbers were called by children from San Ildefonso School in Madrid. Children picked up balls with ticket numbers and corresponding prizes from two giant drums. They sang both characters in a rhythmic cadence known to everyone in Spain.
In the weeks leading up to it, queues formed outside lottery offices, especially those that had sold prize-winning tickets in the past.
Other lotteries have larger individual prizes, but Spain's Christmas Lottery, held every year on December 22, ranks as the richest in the world in terms of the total prize money involved.
Spain established the National Lottery as a charitable institution in 1763 during the reign of King Carlos III. Its goal later became to support state coffers. It also helps many charities.
The December 22 lottery began in 1812. From the beginning, the children of San Ildefonso College sang the prizes.
“Devoted student. Bacon advocate. Beer scholar. Troublemaker. Falls down a lot. Typical coffee enthusiast.”