SPAIN: Punters in a modest Catalan town netted up to €500 million between them after winning first prize in Spain's time-honoured El Gordo (The Fat One) Christmas lottery yesterday.
The winning number, 20,085, was sold entirely in the town of Vic, north of Barcelona. Under the complex lottery system, many people can buy stakes in a number, but if all were taken up in this one it will pay out €510 million.
Ignaci Puig, deputy mayor of Vic, told Spanish state radio that many of the town's 36,000 inhabitants would receive prize money. "We are very, very, very, very happy. The number has been well shared out. We know at least two restaurants have sold it as well as several cultural, sporting and social organisations," he told the station. A single €20 stake in the winning number brings its owner €300,000.
Spanish punters believe history can repeat itself, so the lottery organisers provided a list of towns where The Fat One has fallen, dating all the way back to 1812. It was Vic's first win.