‘El Gordo’ lottery in Spain spreads Christmas riches worth $2.8 billion
Associated PressMADRID — For weeks, Spaniards had anticipated the arrival of “El Gordo” or “The Fat One.” But unlike Santa Claus, El Gordo arrived three days before Christmas, before noon on Sunday. El Gordo is the first prize of Spain’s hugely popular national Christmas lottery, which is said to be the world’s largest based on the total prize money involved, even though other lotteries have larger single prizes. After “El Gordo” was announced, audience members — some dressed in costume as Don Quijote, Christmas elves, Biblical wise men and the lottery itself — began streaming out of the venue, from which the event was televised nationally. Spain’s Dec. 22 Christmas lottery began during the Napoleonic wars in 1812 and has continued largely without interruption since then, even during the Spanish Civil War.
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