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The world’s biggest lottery jackpot is being dished out this afternoon.
Spain’s bumper Christmas draw makes lucky ticket-holders rich beyond their wildest dreams every year.
This festive period, the prize money is an eye-watering £2 billion pound and is shared out among multiple winners.
The top-prize number holder wins around £340,000 and there are plenty of lesser prizes to go ahead.
The lottery, which has been a tradition for more than two centuries, is nicknamed ‘El Gordo’ or ‘The Fat One’.
While there are big individual prizes to be won, Spain’s Christmas lottery takes the prize for the biggest overall pot.
People can queue for hours in the days running up to the lottery to snatch their 20-euro tickets from the most popular vendors.
Some buy them for themselves or as gifts for others. Work colleagues, relatives or friends also pool money to buy them, with their eyes set on sharing the prizes.
Despite a spiraling number of coronavirus cases — Spain on Tuesday scored its pandemic record of new infections, with nearly 50,000 reported in one day — the public is returning to Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house after last year’s hiatus.
Following the tradition, children from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school call out prize-winning numbers, followed by jubilant street and bar scenes of winners celebrating with uncorked bottles of sparkling wine.
The lottery is run by the state and supports several charity efforts.
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