MADRID (AP) - Winners of Spain's cherished Christmas lottery - the
world's richest - celebrated Saturday in more than a dozen locations
where the top lucky tickets were sold, a moment of uplift for a country
enduring another brutal year of economic hardship.
The lottery sprinkled a treasure chest of €2.5
billion ($3.3 billion) in prize money around the country. Champagne
corks popped and festive cheer broke out in 15 towns or cities where
tickets yielding the maximum prize of €400,000 ($530,000), known as "El
Gordo" ("The Fat One,)" had been bought.
A total of €520 million ($687 million) was won in
the eastern Madrid suburb of Alcala de Henares alone. Among the
top-prize winners were 50 former workers at metal parts factory Cametal
who had formed a pool to buy tickets. Their company had filed for
bankruptcy and ceased paying wages five months ago.
"I'm bursting with joy, I haven't fully taken it in
yet," said local resident Josefina Ortega. "When others win you think
to yourself it'll never happen to you, but it has."
Unlike lotteries that generate a few big winners,
Spain's version - now celebrating its 200th anniversary - has always
shared the wealth more evenly instead of concentrating on vast jackpots,
so thousands of tickets yield some kind of return.
Almost all of Spain's 46 million inhabitants
traditionally watch at least some part of the live TV coverage showing
school children singing out winning numbers for the lottery
It is so popular that frequently three €20 ($26)
tickets are sold for every Spaniard and many consider lottery day as the
unofficial kickoff of the holiday season.
Before Spain's property-led economic boom collapsed
in 2008 ticket buyers often yearned to win so they could buy a small
apartment by the beach or a new car. Now people said they needed money
just to get by, or to avoid being evicted from their homes.
Though ticket sales were down 8.3 percent on last
year, according to the National Lottery, in the days preceding the draw
hundreds of people lined up to buy tickets outside outlets that have
sold winning tickets before.
Dolores Perez and Teresa Palacio, two lottery
outlet workers in north Madrid who sold a top-prize ticket celebrated
with sparkling wine as curious neighbors gathered. The fortunate winner
had yet to make an appearance.
"I had never sold a Christmas 'Gordo' before; I
almost thought it didn't exist," said Perez, smiling broadly. "I'm so
happy, I've worked here for 30 years and never before sold a 'Gordo,'
until now."
Since so many people chip in to buy tickets in
groups, top prizes frequently end up being handed out in the same small
town or in one city neighborhood.
Last year's top winning number hit for 1,800
tickets in the northern town of Granen, population 2,000. Townspeople
shared about €700 million ($925 million), and the rest of the €1.8
billion ($2.4 billion) was doled out in smaller prizes around Spain.
Spain holds another big lottery Jan. 6 to mark the
Feast of the Epiphany. It is known as "El Nino" (The Child), in
reference to the baby Jesus.
But the crisis will hit El Nino and all lotteries
going forward. Until now, lottery winnings have been free from taxation,
but now prizes above €2,000 ($2,640) will be liable to a 20 percent tax
in 2013.
The government has imposed stinging austerity
measures this year in a bid to prevent Spain from asking for a
full-blown bailout like those granted to Greece, Ireland, Portugal and
Cyprus. Spain's unemployment stands at 25 percent and its economy is
sinking into a double-dip recession.
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