Life & Leisure

Audience member hits jackpot in Spain’s Christmas lottery draw

Madrid, Dec 22 (EFE).- A woman in the audience for Spain’s annual Christmas lottery draw hit the jackpot live on TV Thursday.

Perla, an unemployed mother of two teenagers, held up her ticket with the winning number 05490 just after El Gordo (“The Big One”) was sung out by pupils from the San Ildefonso school during the festive ceremony held at Madrid’s royal theater and broadcast across the nation.

Spain’s Christmas lottery tickets are sold in sheets worth 200 euros ($212) that can be divided into 10, meaning the lucky audience member on Thursday will get a tenth of the 4 million euro jackpot prize.

Perla said she had bought a total of 95 different tickets, and that the winning one was purchased while on a trip to Asturias, in the north of Spain.

This year’s winning number was available for purchase in state-backed lottery shops in every Spanish region apart from Cantabria, Rioja and the North African territories of Ceuta and Melilla.

There are five top-band awards in the Spanish Christmas lottery, and smaller payouts for tickets that nearly match the winning numbers.

For many in Spain, the Christmas lottery draw heralds the beginning of the festive period, as it coincides with the start of the school holidays.

The festive lottery has run uninterrupted in Spain since 1812. EFE

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