The ceremony lasts three to four hours, as many smaller prizes are drawn. The main prize, called “El Gordo” (the fat one), is four million euros for a whole ticket. It is paid out 172 times as each of the 100,000 ticket numbers is sold just as often.
The lottery, which was launched more than 200 years ago, is considered the oldest in the world and, due to the total amount paid out, also the largest. In Spain it is a huge event: Almost everyone buys at least one so-called “Décimo”, a “Tenth of a Ticket”. An audience of millions followed the drawing live on TV.
The numbers are presented singing by students from the San Ildefonso boarding school in Madrid – again this year with distance and mask, which they were only allowed to remove for the performance. There are two lottery drums. In the first, larger drum there are 100,000 wooden balls with the ticket numbers, in the second a good 1,800 wooden balls with the winnings. During the drawing, two balls from both drums fall into a glass bowl at the same time.