Beach town hits jackpot in Spain’s lottery

It’s estimated that three-quarters of Spain’s 46 million people will take part in Tuesday’s lottery. As so many people enter the draw, numbers are repeated up to 160 times, meaning each prize can potentially be shared between 160 people.

The mayor of Roquetas de Mar called the win great news for his city in the province of Almeria, which has an unemployment rate of 31 percent – much higher than Spain’s national 21 percent jobless rate.

The top prize is capped at 4 million euros ($4.36 million), which is split up among a number of winning tickets.

The top winning number is usually sold in a number of different agencies, but went this time to just one in the southern beach town of Roquetas de Mar, where elated winners arrived and cracked open bottles of sparkling wine for a celebratory street party.

The winning numbers for the country’s “el Gordo” jackpot – worth $2.4 billion this year – were revealed, followed by a contingent of winners stepping forward to claim their prize.

Mayor Gabriel Amat told a local newspaper that he’s thrilled about the impact the massive lottery win will have on his town. Buyers can only pick from the numbers their vendor has available. A ticket costs $218 each. People traditionally chip in together and buy shares of several or many tickets among friends, families or workmates.

Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763, during the reign of King Carlos III, but its objective gradually shifted toward filling state coffers.

“Known as “El Gordo” (‘The fat one” or “fatty”), Spain’s annual Christmas lottery is the biggest and most famous lottery in the world.

MADRID (AP) – Spaniards are taking advantage of unseasonably warm weather and a “day of reflection” break in political campaigning ahead of a general election to buy tickets for the world’s richest lottery.

The drawing began shortly after 0800 GMT on Tuesday in a nationally televised event from Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house.