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Spanish lottery enthusiasts are at Madrid’s Royal Theatre for the draw of El Gordo – the world’s richest lottery.
Dozens of ticket holders queued through the night outside the opera house, many of whom were dressed in eccentric costumes.
At El Gordo, which means “the fat one” in Spanish, about €2.38bn ($2.64bn; £2.03bn) will be given away.
There are 170 sets of 100,000 tickets, with each full ticket costing €200 euros. The draw for each series has a €4m top prize and thousands of smaller prizes.
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The jackpot structure is designed to allow as many people as possible a win – even a small one – or to at least break even with a free ticket.
Every year, millions of people in Spain club together with friends and family for the chance to get a slice of the winnings.
Each ticket can be split 10 ways, with the price of a “decimo” at €20, entitling a winner to 10% of the prize.
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As the draw begins, people gather around their televisions for the more-than-three-hour broadcast to watch as the lucky numbers are pulled out of large golden spheres.
When the winning numbers are chosen, they are sung out by school children.
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Spain’s Christmas lottery tradition has been going for more than 200 years.
It was first broadcast in 1957 – just one year after Spain got television.
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Because the rules of the draw are so complex, and players can buy multiple tickets with the same numbers, it is almost impossible to gauge how many people have won.
As per tradition, the winners go back to where they bought their tickets and pop open bottles of Cava to celebrate.
Owners and employees of the shop Doña Manolita in Madrid were celebrating on Saturday after selling the winning ticket to the biggest prize in the El Gordo draws.
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