€840m for Spanish lottery players
Lottery players in Spain have shared €840million in prizes following yesterday’s El Nino draw. The game is played annually on January 6 to mark the end of the Christmas holidays. This year the winning ticket number was sold in Ascao, in the east of Madrid, a neighbourhood populated by a large number of South American immigrants, according to a report by the Associated Press.
It’s possible that hundreds of lottery tickets containing the winning number could have been sold, and all will share the top prize of €120million. Residents in the working-class district took the opportunity to dance in the streets after the news came through, a rare sight in a country where people are suffering considerably because of the global financial crisis.
Jose Luis Nieto, manager of the office where the winning Spanish lottery ticket was sold, said: “I am very happy to have sold this prize. To tell the truth it's very welcome because there is a lot of need.”
While not as popular as the Spanish Christmas draw El Gordo, which this year had a jackpot of €2.3billion, there is still considerable interest in El Nino across Spain and many people make a special effort to buy lotto tickets.
Written by Katelin Thompson
07/01/2011 14:38:34
