Spain's "El Gordo"
lottery awards over 1.6 bln pounds
Miquel
Colina, son of the head of the ticket office that sold part of the winning
number 06381 for Spain's El Gordo lottery, shows the winning numbers and a
four-leaf clover as he celebrates in Vic near Barcelona December 22,
2007.
Spain's "El Gordo," the world's
biggest lottery, gave out 2.2 billion euros (1.6 billion pounds) in Christmas
prizes on Saturday.
El Gordo, Spanish for "The Fat One",
is designed so that as many people as possible across Spain get a festive
windfall.
The top prize this year was 3
million euros -- going to the series of tickets with the magic number 06381.
Because the tickets are sold in a
series of 10, only those who paid 200 euros for the whole strip get the full
prize.
The biggest share of winning tickets
was bought by people in the town of Nava, in the north-western Asturias region.
The draw lasts three-and-a-half
hours and is carried live on national television with children from the San
Ildefonso school, a former orphanage in Madrid, in turn chanting the winning
numbers and the amount won.
Lotteries have two centuries of
history in Spain.
The country spent 2.87 billion euros
on the lottery -- 5.7 percent more than last year. Seventy percent is paid out
in prizes. Most of the rest goes in costs.
Eight out of ten Spaniards bought
tickets for the lottery, spending on average 64 euros.
Spaniards often choose lottery
numbers matching significant dates although there was no particular favourite in
2007.
In 2006, one of the most
sought-after series was 22105, the date on which Fernando Alonso became Formula
1 world champion for the second year running.(Agencies)
西班牙聖誕驚喜：誰中了“胖子彩票”？
號稱世界上規模最大的西班牙“El Gordo”聖誕彩票于上周六開獎，獎金總額高達22億歐元（16億英鎊）。
“El
Gordo”在西班牙語中意為“胖子”。“胖子”聖誕彩票的推出主要是為了給更多的西班牙人帶來一份節日的意外驚喜。
今年的頭獎獎金為300萬歐元，中獎號碼為“06381”。
由于彩票是以十張一組進行銷售（譯者注：人們可花20歐元購買其中的十分之一），因此只有花200歐元購買了整組彩票的人才有機會獲得全獎。
位于阿斯圖裏亞斯自治區西北部的納瓦市是今年的“黃金”中獎地。
整個開獎過程持續三個半小時，並通過國家電視臺現場直播。在開獎現場，馬德裏的聖?艾爾德芬索小學（原為一所孤兒院）的學生們輪流報唱中獎號碼及中獎金額。
西班牙的彩票歷史已有兩個世紀。
今年西班牙的“胖子彩票”銷售收入達28.7億歐元，比去年增長5.7%。其中70%的收入用于返獎獎金，其余大部分為銷售成本。
今年西班牙全國有四分之三的人購買了“胖子彩票”，人均花費64歐元。
西班牙人常選擇有特殊意義的日期作為投注號碼，不過2007年似乎沒有什麼特別受到親睞的日子。
去年最受青睞的號碼是22105，因為在10月22日這一天，阿隆索連續第二年獲得F1（一級方程式賽車）車手總冠軍。
