Madrid neighbourhood scoops 'fat one' in Spain's Christmas lottery
The winning number of El Gordo, the top prize in Spain's Christmas lottery has been announced.
The winning ticket of the top prize, numbered 66513 was drawn at 11.57am and then announced in song by students from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school.
66513, el Gordo de la #LoteríaNavidad 2016 https://t.co/9Jq9Hed12I pic.twitter.com/U4QRlIicxX
— Loteria Navidad (@loterianavidad_) December 22, 2016
Each year Spaniards go crazy for the lottery, with some 75 percent of the population participating in a game that gives 1:6 odds of winning something, where those with winning numbers each take a share of the €640 million top prize.
READ MORE: The ultimate guide to Spain's Christmas lottery
But this year, the big prize was a number exclusively sold in the Madrid neighbourhood of Acacias, specifically at a lottery shop located at number 4, Paseo de la Esperanza.
The two schoolgirls who sang out the winning number in a televised event from the Madrid's Teatro Real opera house,were Lorena Stefan y Nicol Valenzuela Vásquez, by strange coincidence the same two girls who sang the winning numbers last year.
Lorena Stefan y Nicol Valenzuela Vásquez with the winning number. Photo: AFP
People usually club together buying a tenth of a ticket – un decimo – each for €20 so that whole groups of friends, family or work colleagues end up with the same number.
Those lucky decimo holders of the winning number will enjoy a win of €400,000.
WATCH: Spanish Christmas lottery ad is a real tear jerker.
Spain's state lottery estimates that in 2016 each Spaniard will have spent, on average, €63.80 on Christmas lottery tickets.
Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but El Gordo is ranked as the world's richest, handing out a total of €2.31 billion ($2.46 billion) this year in millions of prizes.
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The winning ticket of the top prize, numbered 66513 was drawn at 11.57am and then announced in song by students from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school.
66513, el Gordo de la #LoteríaNavidad 2016 https://t.co/9Jq9Hed12I pic.twitter.com/U4QRlIicxX
— Loteria Navidad (@loterianavidad_) December 22, 2016
Each year Spaniards go crazy for the lottery, with some 75 percent of the population participating in a game that gives 1:6 odds of winning something, where those with winning numbers each take a share of the €640 million top prize.
READ MORE: The ultimate guide to Spain's Christmas lottery
But this year, the big prize was a number exclusively sold in the Madrid neighbourhood of Acacias, specifically at a lottery shop located at number 4, Paseo de la Esperanza.
The two schoolgirls who sang out the winning number in a televised event from the Madrid's Teatro Real opera house,were Lorena Stefan y Nicol Valenzuela Vásquez, by strange coincidence the same two girls who sang the winning numbers last year.
Lorena Stefan y Nicol Valenzuela Vásquez with the winning number. Photo: AFP
People usually club together buying a tenth of a ticket – un decimo – each for €20 so that whole groups of friends, family or work colleagues end up with the same number.
Those lucky decimo holders of the winning number will enjoy a win of €400,000.
WATCH: Spanish Christmas lottery ad is a real tear jerker.
Spain's state lottery estimates that in 2016 each Spaniard will have spent, on average, €63.80 on Christmas lottery tickets.
Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but El Gordo is ranked as the world's richest, handing out a total of €2.31 billion ($2.46 billion) this year in millions of prizes.
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