Spain's El Gordo lottery sparks celebrations across Madrid

Dec 23, 2016, 11:48 am (14 comments)

El Gordo

MADRID — Workers at a home for the elderly were among those celebrating Thursday in Madrid, Spain, after all the tickets with the top prize-winning number in Spain's €2.3 billion (US$2.4 billion) Christmas lottery were sold in one city neighborhood.

The number 66513 appeared on 1,650 tickets in the lottery known as El Gordo ("The Fat One"), with each ticket holder winning €400,000 (US$418,000).

The winning tickets are normally sold in several different lottery offices around the country but this time they were all sold from one office in the modest Acacias neighborhood of the Spanish capital.

People could be seen celebrating in shops and bars close to the lottery office — and Spanish television broadcast images of people dancing and singing in the streets elsewhere after winning some of the lottery's lesser prizes.

Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but El Gordo, which dates from 1812, is ranked as the world's richest for the total prize money on offer. This year it dished out 25 million prizes. Standard tickets cost €20 (US$21) and people traditionally chip in and buy shares in several tickets with friends, family or workmates.

Many of the tickets were bought by workers and residents at the neighborhood's Penuelas retirees' home, where staff members have been buying the same ticket number for 14 years.

"We're delighted that some retirees also won," said therapist Evelyn Mayordomo, 36.

She said most of her lucky colleagues planned to pay off mortgages or buy apartments.

"We're all working class people, people that needed it," said Mayordomo.

Also fortunate was bank worker Marian Lopez, 37, who is four months pregnant and shared the top winning ticket with her mother.

"The 'Fat One' has struck me twice," she joked, referring to her slight bulge. She said she might spend the money fixing up her house.

Vicente Villaverde, 44, a gas company worker who lives across the street from the lottery office, said he has bought lottery tickets ending in 13 for the past six years.

"As I have had so much bad luck in my life, I have always said the number 13 will bring me fortune. And this year it has!" said Villaverde, dressed in blue work overalls.

He planned to get speech classes for his seven-year-old son who has Down Syndrome and buy his girlfriend a car.

"The ham, the champagne, the whisky are on me this year!" he told his partner over the phone.

Augustin Ramos, who took over running the lucky lottery office four months ago, bought one of the 1,650 tickets for himself and his wife, Maria Josefa Rojo Cabrera.

"I felt happiness seeing that those that won needed it," said Rojo Cabrera.

Queues form outside lottery booths weeks ahead of the Dec. 22 draw and people tune in across all media on Thursday to find out if they are among the lucky ones. The prize ticket numbers are sung out by pupils of Madrid's San Ildefonso School in a nationally televised show from the city's Teatro Real opera house.

Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763, during the reign of King Carlos III, but its objective gradually shifted toward filling state coffers.

Organizers said ticket sales totaled €2.6 billion (US$2.7 billion) this year, up 3.5 percent from last year.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

AP

Comments

music*'s avatarmusic*

 Congratulations Madrid, Spain. You deserve to celebrate! Party

noise-gate

Some folk are falling to their knees & looking heavenward with open arms & tears in their eyes  in Spain even as we speak.As it should be. Banana

quicksloth35

Just awesome!

 

Christmas

Bleudog101

Did Eddie Tipton rig that lottery too for one selling point only?  LOL.

eddessaknight's avatareddessaknight

Great learning post Todd.....

WONDERFUL & CONGRATULATIONS to all winners

Party

Only question remains, why can't WE wont follow a winning format(USA MODIFIED)

 

EDDESSA_KNIGHT Noel

Groppo's avatarGroppo

.

418K per top winning ticket?

It doesn't sound like the kind of prize where I can say 
"OK, I'm ready to move to Californy . . ." ,  but it would've
done some really
nice things for me.

But so many people are so much happier because of their
sensible lottery pay structure, in that game. We need to
make the game easier to win, so many more people can enjoy.

But, from what I've read and heard, even from my own folks
who went to Spain one year, the pick pockets and pan handlers
there are ruthless.  That's one place I'd never want to visit.

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by Groppo on Dec 23, 2016

.

418K per top winning ticket?

It doesn't sound like the kind of prize where I can say 
"OK, I'm ready to move to Californy . . ." ,  but it would've
done some really
nice things for me.

But so many people are so much happier because of their
sensible lottery pay structure, in that game. We need to
make the game easier to win, so many more people can enjoy.

But, from what I've read and heard, even from my own folks
who went to Spain one year, the pick pockets and pan handlers
there are ruthless.  That's one place I'd never want to visit.

My daughter spent her last semester in college in Madrid in 2012. She loved it. However, she got her wallet stolen while on a train. They're packed in there so tight it's easy for someone to help themselves.

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on Dec 23, 2016

My daughter spent her last semester in college in Madrid in 2012. She loved it. However, she got her wallet stolen while on a train. They're packed in there so tight it's easy for someone to help themselves.

Congratulations to all of the fortunate El Gordo lottery raffle winners!

Oh, rcbbuckeye, i'm sorry to hear of your daughter's money loss!  When a teenager, my Uncle's fiance, Jackie, taught me that when on any train or subway, it is super important to hide cash, wallets, and purses so as not to easily tempt people into stealing from me!

 Bandit

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by HaveABall on Dec 23, 2016

Congratulations to all of the fortunate El Gordo lottery raffle winners!

Oh, rcbbuckeye, i'm sorry to hear of your daughter's money loss!  When a teenager, my Uncle's fiance, Jackie, taught me that when on any train or subway, it is super important to hide cash, wallets, and purses so as not to easily tempt people into stealing from me!

 Bandit

It worked out. Funny thing was, my wife and I were in New Orleans for a wedding that weekend. I had walked over to Harrahs to play the slots. I had just put a $20 bill in a slot when my wife called to tell me about out daughter. So I just blew through the 20 pushing the button until it was gone, hoping for a nice win because I knew I was going to have to wire her money.

LottoAce's avatarLottoAce

Congrats to the Winnes!

American Indian's avatarAmerican Indian

That's AWESOME, so many Winners in 1 drawing and people that needed It! That always makes me SMILE!

$400K Would also Make ME SMILE, we could be very happy with that, would be perfect!

We don't need a HUGE WIN, Like some THINK they do.....

Yes Bleudog101 I do believe you are correct about Tipton! LOL

Dd2160's avatarDd2160

Wow thats awesome! Played el gordo in 2011 when I was in Madrid got to find my ticket and play the numbers! Sine 1763 this game been around and it had 1650 winners this year. Must be nice hitting a jackpot game!!

Dd2160's avatarDd2160

Quote: Originally posted by rcbbuckeye on Dec 23, 2016

My daughter spent her last semester in college in Madrid in 2012. She loved it. However, she got her wallet stolen while on a train. They're packed in there so tight it's easy for someone to help themselves.

Travel guru Rick Steve warns of this in his guides.

It also happened to my friend while we were in Madrid on the Metro!

The clever thieves place the wallet on the returning side of the train in the trash and we found it minus the $500 US! Jsmdh!!

Dd2160's avatarDd2160

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Dec 23, 2016

Did Eddie Tipton rig that lottery too for one selling point only?  LOL.

Hey you never know lol!!

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