Spain's Christmas lottery offers a distraction from pandemic

MADRID — Spaniards looking for a respite from the pandemic’s gloom and doom are turning their attraction Wednesday to a rite that for much than 2 centuries has marked the opening of the festive period: the country’s bumper Christmas lottery, known arsenic “El Gordo,” oregon “The Fat One.”

The draw, held annually since 1812, volition crockery retired a full of 2.4 cardinal euros ($2.7 billion) successful prizes this year, oregon 70% of the proceeds from summons sales.

The top-prize fig holder gets 400,000 euros ($450,000) oregon immoderate 328,000 euros aft taxes.

People tin queue for hours successful the days moving up to the lottery to snatch their 20-euro tickets from the astir fashionable vendors.

Some bargain them for themselves oregon arsenic gifts for others. Work colleagues, relatives oregon friends besides excavation wealth to bargain them, with their eyes acceptable connected sharing the prizes.

Other lotteries person bigger idiosyncratic apical prizes but Spain’s Christmas lottery, staged each twelvemonth connected Dec. 22, is ranked arsenic the world’s richest for the full prize wealth involved.

Despite a spiraling fig of coronavirus cases — Spain connected Tuesday scored its pandemic grounds of caller infections, with astir 50,000 reported successful 1 time — the nationalist is returning to Madrid’s Teatro Real opera location aft past year’s hiatus.

Following the tradition, children from Madrid’s San Ildefonso schoolhouse telephone retired prize-winning numbers, followed by jubilant thoroughfare and barroom scenes of winners celebrating with uncorked bottles of sparkling wine.

The lottery is tally by the authorities and supports respective foundation efforts.