Spain lottery injects €640m into town

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?).

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.

This sharing aspect is the secret of the high degree of participation; no one wants to be the only member of a group that did not get a winning ticket.

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. Lottery organizers said that can happen, since bettors don’t pick their own numbers.

“I’m really happy and I congratulate all the winners”, Mayor Gabriel Amat told the Voz de Almeria newspaper. Because the price of a single ticket (€200, or about $219) is so expensive, Spaniards pool their money to buy tickets – and share the wealth, should their number come up. “It’s very important for the town, especially in the hard times we’ve been facing”.

The top individual prize is expected to be about $4.3 million.

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

The standard ticket costs 20 euros ($22). While other national lotteries (and, in the USA, state and multi-state lotteries, such as Powerball and Mega Millions) offer bigger top prizes, El Gordo has the most money poured into it, and the most money poured back out, after the Spanish government’s 30 percent take off the top.

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

Winners from across the country flocked to local retail outlets to toast their good fortune with bottles of sparkling cava in the traditional Christmas lottery, the world’s largest.