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Spain's El Gordo lottery sparks celebrations across MadridNews Story
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
Dec 23, 2016, 11:48 am - Lottery News

The legendary luck of this Spanish lottery shop keeps El Gordo players coming backNews Story
Less than two weeks before Christmas, the line to buy a ticket for Spain's biggest lottery at Do a Manolita, which some consider the country's luckiest ticket vendor, was roughly 100 people long on a chilly Tuesday evening. Considering the frenzy that builds as the holiday nears, it was a short wait. Would-be players will stand for up to three hours in a line that snakes along back streets and past storefronts, crowding the capital city's holiday-festooned pathways for a chance to win the mor
Dec 17, 2016, 8:45 am - Lottery News

African migrants win big in Spain Christmas lotteryNews Story
About 35 African migrants, including at least one rescued at sea from an overcrowded wooden boat, are among the top prize winners of Spain's Christmas lottery, according to the owner of the lottery agency that sold more than 1,000 tickets that shelled out 400,000 euros (US$438,000) each. The winners who bought the tickets in the southern coastal city of Roquetas de Mar included migrants from Senegal, Mali and Morocco, agency owner Jose Martin told La Voz de Almeria newspaper in a story publis
Dec 24, 2015, 7:27 am - Lottery News

Beach town hits jackpot in Spain's El Gordo lotteryNews Story
With wide smiles, elated lottery winners popped corks on bottles of sparkling wine Tuesday in the southern beach city of Roquetas de Mar, where tickets bearing the top prize number in Spain's Christmas lottery were sold. The winning number 79140 appeared on 1,600 tickets in the lottery known as El Gordo (The Fat One), with each ticket holder winning 400,000 (US$434,800). The lottery has taken on special importance in recent years as Spain struggled through a real estate bubble and the Euro
Dec 22, 2015, 9:26 am - Lottery News

Disney chooses director for upcoming lottery movieNews Story
By Todd Northrop Annie director Will Gluck is teaming with Walt Disney Studios to direct an untitled lottery movie based on the actual events of a Spanish lottery jackpot win. The project, which was originally written for a male lead and titled Lucky Guy, is being retooled to feature a female protagonist and does not yet have a name. The story centers on a perpetually unlucky young woman who is flabbergasted when everyone in her small town except her wins a lottery. However, this appare
May 29, 2015, 7:07 pm - Lottery News

Spain's El Niño lottery spreads $663M in winningsNews Story
A lottery on Tuesday spread 560 million (US$663 million) among jubilant ticket holders throughout Spain, which is struggling to emerge from a financial crisis that has left it saddled with high unemployment. The El Ni o (The Child) lottery is held each Feast of the Epiphany on Jan. 6, and the 400 top prize tickets, each worth 200,000 (US$236,700), were all sold in Leganes, a southwest Madrid working-class suburb. Horns are blowing, the phone doesn't stop ringing, it's crazy and a huge, hu
Jan 7, 2015, 1:46 pm - Lottery News

Spaniards celebrate 'El Gordo' victories in world's biggest lotteryNews Story
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 pa
Dec 22, 2014, 10:24 pm - Lottery News

Spain holds annual Christmas El Gordo lottery drawNews Story
The winners of Spain's cherished Christmas lottery the world's richest celebrated around the country Sunday, a moment of joy and relief after another year of a brutal financial crisis. Millions had been glued to their televisions on Sunday as 2.5 billion euros (US$3.4 billion) in prize money was distributed. The drawing is so popular that most of Spain's 46 million people watched at least part of the live four-hour show, hoping they would hear their ticket as school children called out the lu
Dec 22, 2013, 9:01 pm - Lottery News

Good Samaritan may get unclaimed lotto jackpot in SpainNews Story
Includes audio report A city in northwest Spain issued a rather unusual lost-and-found notice this week: FOUND: A lottery ticket bought more than a year ago, which entitles the owner to an unclaimed $6.3 million jackpot. LOST: The ticket's owner. From its El Gordo ( The Fat One ) Christmas lottery, to the summertime EuroMillions drawing, Spain is a country obsessed with playing the lottery especially in a dismal economy. With unemployment above 27 percent, many Spaniards figure th
Sep 20, 2013, 9:25 am - Lottery News

El Gordo jackpot brings lottery joy to thousands in SpainNews Story
Spaniards facing yet another year of economic misery found relief in the world's biggest lottery payout on Saturday, the traditional Christmas Gordo, or Fat One, which spread 2.52 billion (US$3.3 billion) in prize money around the country. Champagne corks popped in towns, cities and villages across Spain as tens of thousands of winners took home enough money to keep their families going through the dark days of 2013 and beyond. Yesterday we were both on the dole, but today we are winners,
Dec 24, 2012, 8:33 am - Lottery News