With the annual drawing of the “Lotería de Navidad”, today more than 2.5 billion euros in prize money has been distributed to the Spanish population. The lottery is also known as ‘El Gordo’, the fat one, and has a long tradition, says correspondent Jorn Lucas. “Actually, this has been going on since the first extraction in 1812.”
“It’s the unofficial start of Christmas,” says Lucas. So you do it together. You buy lottery tickets with family, friends or the baker on the street.’ A full ticket costs 200 euros, so most people buy a tenth ticket.
The price
The total prize pool of 2.5 billion will be divided into different types of prizes. ‘Because most people have a tenth of a lottery ticket, the main prize is €400,000. You have to pay 20% tax on that, so you’re left with over €300,000.’
The draw was broadcast live from 09.00 on radio and television. ‘Children in a Madrid school traditionally sing about the prizes. It has been like this since the first extraction in 1812». The trek takes more than four hours.
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Due to inflation, rising energy and food prices, winning prize money is even more important to many people than in previous years. One of the winners of ‘El Gordo’ was in the Madrid theater during the awards ceremony. It’s about a unemployed woman from Peruwho now wants to buy a new house and give her son a good education with the money.
The biggest winner
‘180 million lottery tickets have been put into circulation, if you sell everything you will raise 3.5 billion euros. Of this, 70 percent goes to the prize pool, the rest goes to the state treasury. “So the state wins at least one billion euros today.”
More lottery tickets were sold this year than last year, it was announced at a press conference ahead of the drawing. “Due to rising inflation, the price of a lottery ticket could go up next year,” says Lucas.
Source: BNR
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