El Gordo Brings 2.7 Billlion Euros Of Christmas Cheer

Lucky Spaniards are celebrating today as the world-famous Spanish Christmas lottery distributed winnings totalling more than €2.7 billion, some 112 million more than last year.

This year the lucky “gordo” number – 72480 – fell in Logroño, the capital of La Rioja.

Each €20 ticket wins € 400,000, and all 193 series (of 10 decimos each) were sold in just one lottery administration in the city

As is traditional the lottery results were sang out by pupils from Madrid´s Ildefonso school at the Royal Opera House, in a ceremony taking some 4 hours to get through the winning numbers.

During the ceremony there are two lottery drums. In the first, larger drum, there are 100,000 wooden balls with the ticket numbers, and in the second, there are about 1,800 wooden balls with the prize amounts.

During the draw, two balls always fall simultaneously from the two drums into a glass bowl. The ceremony always lasts at least around three hours, as many smaller prizes are also drawn.

It is the oldest lottery in the world dating back to 1812, without interruption even surviving the Spanish Civil War and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The second prize number 40014, fell chiefly in Catalonia whilst Madrid took the fourth prize number, with over 160 series (1,600 décimos).