Spaniards celebrate 'El Gordo' victories in world's biggest lottery

Dec 22, 2014, 10:24 pm (20 comments)

El Gordo

Thousands of Spaniards including humble restaurant workers and care home residents celebrated wins in the world's biggest lottery draw on Monday, scooping up shares in over 2.2 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in prizes doled out across the country.

El Gordo, or "the Fat One", is the top award millions vie for every year in the traditional Christmas lottery, which had Spaniards on tenterhooks for four hours as the ceremonial draw took longer than usual to throw up the big prizes.

The Gordo pays out 400,000 euros for every 20 euros spent on a number and this year's jackpot was widely distributed. There were winners from the capital Madrid to southerly Murcia, flocking to local lottery outlets or bars where they had bought their tickets to celebrate their good fortune.

Spain's Christmas lottery has been running for just over 200 years and remains a major fixture of the festive season. Sales had dropped off in recent years as the country went through a deep economic crisis, leaving over 5 million people, or nearly one in four workers, out of a job.

But this year, coinciding with Spain's recovery from recession, ticket sales were up for the first time since 2008. The taxman now takes a slice of the winnings - 20 percent from prizes above 2,500 euros.

The build-up to the yearly Gordo has added to the prize's fame. Superstitious players can queue for hours to buy tickets from the "luckiest" vendors, where the jackpot has hit before.

Companies, sports associations, local shops and bars also order series of ticket numbers for staff, which are then swapped and shared among relatives and colleagues trying to maximize their chances of getting a top prize.

Workers from Madrid's central wax museum were among the big winners on Monday, while staff from a neighboring restaurant also got lucky.

"The first thing I'm going to do is go to Paraguay to see my family. I haven't been for years," Madrid-based Gonzalo Lovera, a caretaker who won 1.6 million euros, told state television.

Reuters

Comments

jarasan's avatarjarasan

The fat one.  We could learn from this one as I have written before.

music*'s avatarmusic*

PartyThe "FAT ONE" has lasted for over 200 years. We need to start soon.I Agree!

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

WOW!  El Gordo, the world's biggest lottery raffle occurred , scooping up shares in over 2.2 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in prizes doled out across Spain!  And who knows, maybe some foreign visitors during raffle sales period won a couple million too!

A very merry Christmas and new year/life to you major El Gordo raffle winners! Wish I could have played and won.

 Christmas Snowman

Crazy Wombat

This is my idea for a "national lottery" like El Gordo in Spain ... something similiar in this country ... maybe tickets costing $2 ... $2.50 or $5 ... however all prizes won would be tax free from federal tax.

Tickets would be on sale all year and could be bought at any Post Office ... 50% of every ticket sold would go to the federal government for taxes and expenses and 50% would be prize money in the pot for a whole year. Every December the US would have this one big tax free drawing ... they have already collected the taxes along the way as tickets were sold ... so the Feds have their money up front as the year progresses ... I can see a big jackpot by December.

Seems simple enough.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by Crazy Wombat on Dec 23, 2014

This is my idea for a "national lottery" like El Gordo in Spain ... something similiar in this country ... maybe tickets costing $2 ... $2.50 or $5 ... however all prizes won would be tax free from federal tax.

Tickets would be on sale all year and could be bought at any Post Office ... 50% of every ticket sold would go to the federal government for taxes and expenses and 50% would be prize money in the pot for a whole year. Every December the US would have this one big tax free drawing ... they have already collected the taxes along the way as tickets were sold ... so the Feds have their money up front as the year progresses ... I can see a big jackpot by December.

Seems simple enough.

Crazy

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

I'm curious about the payout ratio for every Dollar/Euro spent. Does anybody know? Otherwise I think the game is wonderful. Lots of winners just before Christmas (are we allowed to say Christmas anymore? Hahaha idgaf). It would be nice if MUSL Would offer such a raffle. No growing jackpot b.s. or weekly draws. Just one draw around Christmas and boom! Plenty of winners nationwide.

Crazy Wombat

Well they are doing something right in Spain ... they have a lottery that has lasted over 200 years and we have Monopoly Millionaire that lasted two months and a few days.

We can probably learn something from the beautiful people of Spain !

cbr$'s avatarcbr$

May the US could take a few pointers from this lottery. Since this lottery has lasted 200 years. They're doing something right. 

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Quote: Originally posted by cbr$ on Dec 23, 2014

May the US could take a few pointers from this lottery. Since this lottery has lasted 200 years. They're doing something right. 

They would never allow this here unless they can make millions in profit.

anubinareloaded

He ganado 60,000€ por un décimo del Gordo de Navidad... Yo vivo cerca de la calle Zurbano, que es la administración que vendió el Gordo, cachisss!!! por poco compro un décimo del primer premio.

 

Y en enero hay un segundo sorteo llamado "El Niño", jejejejeje

 

Party

music*'s avatarmusic*

Banana Feliz Navidad anubinareloaded !   and Happy New Year.  Maybe some of you Spainards can teach us Yankees how to have a lottery game that endures for 200 years.Hurray!

JoeBigLotto's avatarJoeBigLotto

As have been saying monopoly millionaire club can learn from success and go big to monopoly Billionaire club or i be spending my next christmas in spain. Lurking

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

This very popular lottery changes many lives for the better, every year, in Spain and elsewhere. If Spain can do $2B, the good ol' U.S. of A, can do $20B easily, if we can only put our differences aside just for a second.

Gleno's avatarGleno

Did I hear correctly that these tickets cost equivalent to $25.00 each? Too expensive for my taste if we had something similar here in the USA.

Crazy

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