Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Celebrations in Madrid where the top prize-winning tickets of the El Gordo lottery were sold in one neighbourhood

Spain's annual Christmas lottery has paid out €56m ($58m; £47m) to residents of a struggling southern town where almost a third of the population are out of work.

Much of the winnings in Pinos Puente, in Granada, came from tickets sold by the local branch of the tiny United Left political coalition.

El Gordo, the world's biggest Christmas lottery, has no single jackpot, with winnings distributed among thousands.

This year the prizes totalled €2.31bn.

Each ticket has a five-digit number, reprinted numerous times in so-called series, costing €200. Because of the price, they are divided into 10 sub-tickets ("decimo"), each costing €20.

El Gordo, Spanish for "the Fat One", is a Christmas tradition. People traditionally chip in together, participating with friends, families or workmates.

It has a huge impact for the winners, as the national unemployment rate is around 19%, even higher among the under-25s.

In Pinos Puente - a city of 13,000 people, with unemployment of 29% and a budget of €8m - 451 "decimos" of the winning 04536 number were sold, each paying €125,000.

Residents took to the streets in celebration, dancing and singing together. Many of the winners were from poor families.

A resident called Alba told El Periodico newspaper (in Spanish) that she had not had enough money to buy Christmas presents but that, now, she would be able to help her family.

Mayor Jose Enrique Medina told AFP news agency: "It is a lot of money for a town that has been punished hard. The prize money was widely distributed, it went to many families that really needed it."

Image copyright AP Image caption The second biggest prize went to tickets with the number 04536

Image copyright AP Image caption Celebrations erupted in Madrid after all the tickets with the top prize-winning number were sold in only one neighbourhood

The main prize went for the tickets 66513, all of them sold at a lottery office in the capital Madrid.

The number appeared in 1,650 "decimos", paying each holder €400,000.

The winners included staff from the Madrid headquarters of Spain's PSOE socialist party.

"A great end to a difficult year", the party said on Twitter.

The PSOE lost general elections in December last year and in June against the centre-right People's Party.</s>Paquita celebrates with lottery kiosk owners Agustin Ramos and his wife Maria Jose Rojo outside the kiosk where the winning number was sold in Spain's Christmas Lottery 'El Gordo' (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. — Reuters pic MADRID, Dec 23 — Spain’s annual Christmas lottery yesterday showered €56 million (RM261.64 million) on residents of a struggling town where nearly a third of the population is out of work.

Celebrating residents in Pinos Puente in the southern farming region of Andalucia danced, sang, embraced and sprayed sparkling wine in the streets, images broadcast on public television TVE showed.

“The tickets went to people with low incomes, people who really needed it,” Carmen Capilla, a local United Left town councillor told AFP by telephone.

Much of the winnings came from tickets sold by the local branch of the tiny United Left political coalition in Pinos Puente, with 258 of its tickets hitting the winning number for the second prize, each paying €125,000.

Many charities and associations buy the tickets from the state-run lottery and resell them with a small markup as a way to raise funds.

The winning tickets will bring €32.2 million in prize money to the town of around 13,000 residents, which has an unemployment rate of 29 per cent and a yearly municipal budget of just eight million euros.

Other winning tickets were sold by the local lottery office or other associations.

“It is a lot of money for a town that has been punished hard,” Pinos Puente mayor Jose Enrique Medina told AFP.

“The prize money was widely distributed, it went to many families that really needed it.”

Spain’s annual Christmas lottery, known as “El Gordo” (“The Fat One”), is ranked as the world’s richest, handing out a total of €2.3 billion this year.

Unlike other big lotteries that generate just a few big winners, the draw aims to share the wealth, and millions of numbers yield some kind of return.

The draw spread cheer across Spain, where the unemployment rate stood at 18.9 per cent in the third quarter, the second-worst rate in the European Union after Greece.

A state lottery office on Madrid’s Paseo de la Esperanza, which means “Promenade of Hope”, sold 1,650 tickets with the winning number for the top prize, each of which wins €400,000.

The winning tickets will bring around €600 million to the lower middle class neighbourhood in southern Madrid.

Among the lucky winners was Vicente Villaverde, a 44-year-old technician with Gas Natural who learned he had won as he got ready to go to work.

“I went to look for my tools when I got a call to say to check my ticket, I had won €400,000,” he told reporters outside the lottery store.

“I have a child with a handicap, this is going to make our lives easier,” he said, adding he would also help his brothers, including one who recently lost his job.

The lottery, which dates back to 1812, is an important Christmas tradition in Spain, with many families, offices and bar regulars clubbing to buy tickets which cost €20 each.

The draw, which goes on for over three hours, informally ushers in the Christmas season.

Children from a Madrid school that used to be a home for orphans pick small wooden balls bearing the winning numbers and prizes out of two giant tumblers, and sing them out.

Many Spaniards spend the morning glued to TV sets, radios and computers, waiting to see if they are among the lucky winners.

The United Left, which includes the Communist Party of Spain, backs greater state intervention in the economy and less reliance on the power of markets. — AFP</s>Paquita celebrates with lottery kiosk owners Agustin Ramos and his wife Maria Jose Rojo outside the kiosk where the winning number was sold in Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Elena (R) toasts with a friend as she celebrates outside the kiosk where the winning ticket number was sold in Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

A lottery ball with the top prize allotment is displayed before being dropped into a rotating drum before the start of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

A man dressed as a civil guard displays photocopies of lottery tickets as he attends the draw of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Lottery balls are dropped into a rotating drum before the start of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Elena, who says is unemployed, celebrates winning a portion of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Elena (R) is embraced by a friend as she celebrates outside the kiosk where the winning ticket number was sold in Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Elena, who says is unemployed, celebrates winning a portion of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Sergia holds up a photocopy of the winning ticket number she bought as she joins others celebrating outside the kiosk where the winning number was sold in Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Lottery kiosk owners Agustin Ramos and his wife Maria Jose Rojo celebrate selling the winning ticket number in Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Sergia holds up a photocopy of the winning ticket number she bought as she joins others celebrating outside the kiosk where the winning number was sold in Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Girls call out the first prize during Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Lottery kiosk owners Agustin Ramos and his wife Maria Jose Rojo celebrate selling the winning ticket number in Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

A child holds up a lottery ball and calls out a second prize during Spain's Christmas lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Girls call out the first prize during Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Lottery balls are dropped into a rotating drum before the start of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

A child holds up a lottery ball and calls out a fourth prize during Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

A lottery official prepares lottery balls before the start of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina

Lottery balls are dropped into a rotating drum before the start of Spain's Christmas Lottery "El Gordo" (The Fat One) in Madrid, Spain, December 22, 2016. REUTERS/Juan Medina</s>Spain's annual Christmas lottery has paid out €56m ($58m; £47m) to residents of a struggling southern town where almost a third of the population are out of work.

Much of the winnings in Pinos Puente, in Granada, came from tickets sold by the local branch of the tiny United Left political coalition.

El Gordo, the world's biggest Christmas lottery, has no single jackpot, with winnings distributed among thousands.

Each ticket has a five-digit number, reprinted numerous times in so-called series, costing €200. Because of the price, they are divided into 10 sub-tickets ("decimo"), each costing €20.

El Gordo, Spanish for "the Fat One", is a Christmas tradition. People traditionally chip in together, participating with friends, families or workmates.

It has a huge impact for the winners, as the national unemployment rate is around 19%, even higher among the under-25s.

In Pinos Puente - a city of 13,000 people, with unemployment of 29% and a budget of €8m - 451 "decimos" of the winning 04536 number were sold, each paying €125,000.

Residents took to the streets in celebration, dancing and singing together. Many of the winners were from poor families.

A resident called Alba told El Periodico newspaper (in Spanish) that she had not had enough money to buy Christmas presents but that, now, she would be able to help her family.

Mayor Jose Enrique Medina told AFP news agency: "It is a lot of money for a town that has been punished hard. The prize money was widely distributed, it went to many families that really needed it."

The main prize went for the tickets 66513, all of them sold at a lottery office in the capital Madrid.

The number appeared in 1,650 "decimos", paying each holder €400,000.

The winners included staff from the Madrid headquarters of Spain's PSOE socialist party.

"A great end to a difficult year", the party said on Twitter.

The PSOE lost general elections in December last year and in June against the centre-right People's Party.</s>MADRID - Spain’s annual Christmas lottery showered on Thursday some 56 million euros ($58 million) on residents of a struggling town where nearly a third of the population is out of work.

Celebrating residents in Pinos Puente in the southern region of Andalucia danced, sang, embraced and sprayed sparkling wine in the streets, images broadcast on public television TVE showed.

“The tickets went to people with low incomes, people who really needed it,” Carmen Capilla, a local United Left councillor told AFP by telephone.

Much of the winnnings came from tickets sold by the local branch of the tiny United Left coalition in Pinos Puente, with 258 of its tickets hitting the winning number for the second prize, each paying 125,000 euros.

Many charities and associations buy the tickets from the state-run lottery and resell them with a small markup as a way to raise funds.

The winning tickets will bring 32.2 million euros in prize money to the town of around 13,000 residents, which has an unemployment rate of 29 percent and a yearly municipal budget of just eight million euros.

Other winning tickets were sold by the local lottery office or other associations.

“It is a lot of money for a town that has been punished hard,” Pinos Puente’s Socialist mayor Jose Enrique Medina told AFP.

“The prize money was widely distributed, it went to many families that really needed it. Some of them were municipal workers.”

Spain’s annual Christmas lottery, known as “El Gordo” or “The fat One”, is ranked as the world’s richest, handing out a total of 2.3 billion euros this year.

Unlike other big lotteries that generate just a few big winners, the draw aims to share the wealth, and millions of numbers yield at least some kind of return.

The draw spread cheer across Spain, where the unemployment rate stood at 18.9 percent in the third quarter, the second-worst rate in the European Union after Greece.

A state lottery office on Madrid’s Paseo de la Esperanza, which means “Promenade of Hope”, sold 1,650 tickets with the winning number for the top prize, each of which wins 400,000 euros.

The lottery, which dates back to 1812, is an important Christmas tradition in Spain, with many families, offices and bar regulars clubbing to buy tickets which cost 20 euros each.

The draw, which goes on for over three hours, informally ushers in the Christmas season.

Children from a Madrid school that used to be a home for orphans pick small wooden balls bearing the winning numbersSt and prizes out of two giant tumblers, and sing them out.

The United Left, which includes the Communist Party of Spain, backs greater state intervention in the economy and less reliance on the power of markets.</s>WORKERS from Spain’s embattled PSOE have won a share of the El Gordo €2.3 billion lottery.

Staff at the socialist party’s Madrid headquarters were among hundreds of lucky winners in the national Christmas lottery which is played by 75% of Spaniards.

It comes after the party, which is still without a leader following Pedro Sanchez’s resignation in October, suffered its worst general election result since democracy returned to Spain 40 years ago.

“Happy that many workers have got lucky with the Christmas lottery,” the PSOE tweeted.

Residents in Pinos Puente, an impoverished Granada town, have shared €56m.

The town has an unemployment rate of 29% and an annual budget of just 8 million, but 451 ‘decimos’ (shares) bagged €125,000 each when the number 04536 was drawn.

Costa del Sol residents in Estepona, Sabinillas and Fuengirola were also celebrating after scooping €125,000 each.

The winning number of 66513 was also won by Madrid residents.</s>Spain's socialists cheer at last - they win El Gordo lottery

MADRID, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Staff from the Madrid headquarters of Spain's PSOE socialist party were among the top winners on Thursday of El Gordo, the world's biggest lottery jackpot with prizes totalling 2.31 billion euros ($2.41 billion) this year.

"A great end to a difficult year," the PSOE said on the party's official twitter account.

The party lost general elections in December last year and in June against the centre-right People's Party, registering its worst election results in 40 years.

Up by 70 million euros this year, El Gordo, Spanish for "The Fat One," is designed so as many people as possible get some win or at least break even with cash prizes doled out across the country.

Many people buy tickets in groups and companies, local bars or associations often offer tickets to staff and customers. On the day of the draw, people huddle around television sets and watch school children sing out the winning numbers.

El Gordo's complex rules - which allow for multiple purchases of the same lottery number - mean it is not yet clear how much the PSOE staff will get.</s>MADRID (AP) — Workers at a home for the elderly were among those celebrating Thursday in Madrid after all the tickets with the top prize-winning number in Spain’s 2.3 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) Christmas lottery were sold in one city neighborhood.

The number 66513 appeared on 1,650 tickets in the lottery known as El Gordo (“The Fat One”), with each ticket holder winning 400,000 euros ($418,000).

The winning tickets are normally sold in several different lottery offices around the country but this time they were all sold from one office in the modest Acacias neighborhood of the Spanish capital.

People could be seen celebrating in shops and bars close to the lottery office — and Spanish television broadcast images of people dancing and singing in the streets elsewhere after winning some of the lottery’s lesser prizes.

Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but El Gordo, which dates from 1812, is ranked as the world’s richest for the total prize money on offer. This year it dished out 25 million prizes. Standard tickets cost 20 euros ($21) and people traditionally chip in and buy shares in several tickets with friends, family or workmates.

Many of the tickets were bought by workers and residents at the neighborhood’s Penuelas retirees’ home, where staff members have been buying the same ticket number for 14 years.

“We’re delighted that some retirees also won,” said therapist Evelyn Mayordomo, 36.

She said most of her lucky colleagues planned to pay off mortgages or buy apartments.

“We’re all working class people, people that needed it,” said Mayordomo.

Also fortunate was bank worker Marian Lopez, 37, who is four months pregnant and shared the top winning ticket with her mother.

“The ‘Fat One’ has struck me twice,” she joked, referring to her slight bulge. She said she might spend the money fixing up her house.

Vicente Villaverde, 44, a gas company worker who lives across the street from the lottery office, said he has bought lottery tickets ending in 13 for the past six years.

“As I have had so much bad luck in my life, I have always said the number 13 will bring me fortune. And this year it has!” said Villaverde, dressed in blue work overalls.

He planned to get speech classes for his seven-year-old son who has Down Syndrome and buy his girlfriend a car.

“The ham, the champagne, the whisky are on me this year!” he told his partner over the phone.

Augustin Ramos, who took over running the lucky lottery office four months ago, bought one of the 1,650 tickets for himself and his wife, Maria Josefa Rojo Cabrera.

“I felt happiness seeing that those that won needed it,” said Rojo Cabrera.

Queues form outside lottery booths weeks ahead of the Dec. 22 draw and people tune in across all media on Thursday to find out if they are among the lucky ones. The prize ticket numbers are sung out by pupils of Madrid’s San Ildefonso School in a nationally televised show from the city’s Teatro Real opera house.

Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763, during the reign of King Carlos III, but its objective gradually shifted toward filling state coffers.

Organizers said ticket sales totaled 2.6 billion euros ($2.7 billion) this year, up 3.5 percent from last year.

This story has been corrected to show lottery prize money is 2.3 billion-euro ($2.4 billion) this year.</s>MADRID — Celebrations erupted across Madrid on Thursday after all the tickets with the top prize-winning number in Spain's 2.6 billion-euro ($2.7 billion) Christmas lottery were sold in one city .

The number 66513 appeared on 1,650 tickets in the lottery known as El Gordo (The Fat One), with each ticket holder winning 400,000 euros ($418,000).

The winning tickets are normally sold in several different lottery offices around the country but this time they were all sold from one office in the modest Acacias of the Spanish capital.

People could be seen celebrating in shops and bars close to the lottery office — and Spanish television broadcast images of people dancing and singing in the streets elsewhere who won some of the lottery's lesser prizes.

Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but El Gordo, which dates from 1812, is ranked as the world's richest for the total prize money on offer. This year it dished out 25 million prizes. Standard tickets cost 20 euros ($21) and people traditionally chip in and buy shares in several tickets with friends, family or workmates.

One of the fortunate was bank worker Marian Lopez, 37, who is four months pregnant and shared the top winning ticket with her mother.

"The 'Fat One' has struck me twice," she joked, referring to her slight bulge. She said she might spend the money fixing up her house.

Vicente Villaverde, 44, a gas company worker who lives across the street from the lottery office, said he has bought tickets ending in 13 for the past six years.

"As I have had so much bad luck in my life, I have always said the number 13 will bring me fortune. And this year it has!" said Villaverde, dressed in blue work overalls.

He said he planned to get speech classes for his seven-year-old son who has Down Syndrome and buy his girlfriend a car.

"The ham, the champagne, the whisky are on me this year!" he told his partner over the phone.

Augustin Ramos, who took over running the lucky lottery office four months ago, bought one of the 1,650 tickets for himself and his wife, Maria Josefa Rojo Cabrera.

"I felt happiness seeing that those that won needed it," said Rojo Cabrera.

Queues form outside lottery booths weeks ahead of the Dec. 22 draw and people tune in across all media on Thursday to find out if they are among the lucky ones. The prize ticket numbers are sung out by pupils of Madrid's San Ildefonso School in a nationally televised event from the city's Teatro Real opera house.

Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763, during the reign of King Carlos III, but its objective gradually shifted toward filling state coffers.

Organizers said ticket sales 2.6 billion euros this year, up 3.5 from last year.

Ciaran Giles And Aritz Parra, The Associated Press</s>MADRID (AP) — Celebrations were guaranteed Thursday in Madrid after all the tickets bearing the top prize number of 66513 in Spain's 2.3 billion euros ($2.4 billion) Christmas lottery were sold there.

The number appeared on 1,650 tickets in the lottery known as El Gordo (The Fat One), with each holder winning 400,000 euros ($418,000).

The winning tickets are normally sold in several different lottery offices around the country but this time they were all sold from one office in the Spanish capital, according to organizers.

Standard tickets cost 20 euros ($21) and people traditionally chip in and buy shares in several tickets with friends, family or workmates.

Queues form outside lottery booths weeks ahead of the Dec. 22 draw and people tune in across all media on Thursday to find out if they are among the lucky ones. The prize ticket numbers are sung out by pupils of Madrid's San Ildefonso School in a nationally televised event from the city's Teatro Real opera house.

Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763, during the reign of King Carlos III, but its objective gradually shifted toward filling state coffers. El Gordo itself dates from 1812.

Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but the El Gordo (The Fat One), is ranked as the world's richest for the total prize money on offer.

This year it dished out 25 million prizes.

Organizers said ticket sales totaled 2.6 billion euros this year, up 3.5 percent from last year.
Residents of the economically struggling town of Pinos Puente in Granada, Spain, win the El Gordo lottery.