Spanish Neighborhood Scores $285-Million Jackpot
MADRID — Sparkling wine flowed and townspeople danced in the streets of Majorca’s main city on Friday after their neighbors won the $285-million jackpot in a lottery that bills itself as the world’s richest.
Each of 117 tickets with the winning number in Spain’s Christmas lottery--dubbed “El Gordo,” or “The Fat One”--is worth $2.4 million.
El Gordo has the world’s biggest payout for a number chosen by ticket buyers, although other lotteries award larger jackpots, according to the lottery commission.
In the lottery, 117 tickets are printed with each number. This year’s jackpot-winning tickets were all purchased in the working-class Coll d’Enravassa neighborhood of Palma on Majorca, an island in the Mediterranean Sea.
It wasn’t known how many people were splitting the jackpot: The tickets, which cost $245 each, usually are purchased by groups of friends, families and work or club mates.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
