$2.4B paid out in Spain’s ‘fatty’ lottery

Ticket-holders in the Spanish coastal town of Roquetas de Mar are celebrating after they won first prize – and a share of 640 million euros – in Spain’s traditional Christmas lottery, known as “El Gordo” (The Fat One).

Tickets bearing the largest slice of the prize – around 4 million euros – were sold in the southern beach city of Roquetas de Mar, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday morning. There are also second prizes, third prizes, fourth prizes, and so on, worth anywhere from hundreds of thousands of Euros on down to €200 (the price of a single ticket).

With so many prizes, there are plenty of winnings for Spaniards who band together in office pools and groups of family members or friends to buy anywhere from one to dozens of the tickets costing 20 euros each.

From just getting your money back if the last number on your ticket coincides with that of the five-digit victor to the €4 million (£2.9 million) for each of the 160 purchasers of that number in its different series, this year’s Fat One draw will see €2.24 billion distributed around the country. The odds of winning at least something are high.

You can even buy your lottery tickets for the 2016 El Gordo now (maybe you could throw a few euros our way when you hit the big time?). “It’s very important for the town, especially in the hard times we’ve been facing”. Lottery organizers said that can happen, since bettors don’t pick their own numbers.

The lottery has taken on special importance as Spain as it struggles with high unemployment and austerity measures.

Each year, Spain holds its annual Christmas Lottery, officially Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad and unofficially “El Gordo”, apart from its regular national lottery. Queues form outside lottery booths weeks ahead of the draw and on December 22 each year people tune into radio or television to find out if they are among the lucky ones.

El Gordo is the world’s biggest Christmas lottery, and the live televised draw grips the nation.