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. 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 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. 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 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. 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.
Residents of the economically struggling town of Pinos Puente in Granada, Spain, win the El Gordo lottery.