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First prize winner of the Infant Jesus lottery in L'Escala
Photo: Glòria Sánchez / dpa
The entire main prize of the traditional Spanish baby Jesus lottery, amounting to 100 million euros, went to northern Spain – just like last year.
All tickets with the lucky number 89603 were sold in the small coastal town of L'Escala.
The town on the Costa Brava in Catalonia in the extreme north-east of Spain has just over 10,000 inhabitants.
But as this is a tourist region, people in other Spanish regions should also be happy to win prizes should they have bought tickets while on holiday in L'Escala.
Last year, the main prize went to a single region in the north of the country.
While red wine was celebrated back then, the Catalan sparkling wine cava now flowed freely in L'Escala.
A total of 700 million euros were distributed throughout the country.
The main prize of two million euros will be paid out a total of 50 times.
Since a whole ticket costs 200 euros, it is usually only bought by syndicates.
Most people therefore buy a tenth ticket.
The second prize, totaling 37.5 million, was distributed more evenly within Spain.
A total of 12.5 million euros was distributed for the third prize.
As every year, millions of people watched the live broadcast of the drawing of the lucky numbers in Madrid on Epiphany at home, in cafés, pubs and restaurants.
State is the grand prize winner in the lotteries
The earliest antecedents of the Infant Jesus lottery date back to the 19th century.
It has existed in its current form since 1941. In Spain, only the Christmas lottery is even bigger.
This traditional lottery has been around for more than 200 years.
It is considered the largest and oldest in the world.
On December 22, profits totaling a good 2.5 billion euros had already been distributed throughout Spain.
A total of 3.6 billion euros were sold lots.
That makes the Treasury the main winner.
aeh/dpa
