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El Gordo draws jackpot hopefuls El Gordo winning numbers announced
(about 6 hours later)
Spain is expected to come to a halt as millions of people stay glued to their radio and television sets as the world's richest lottery is drawn. Up to 1,950 people have won a share in the world's richest lottery - Spain's El Gordo, or "Fat One".
Known as El Gordo, meaning "the Fat One", it has a total prize fund of $3.2bn (£2.14bn; 2.3bn euros) split into thousands of cash prizes. The lottery has a total prize fund of $3.2bn (£2.14bn; 2.3bn euros), some 100m euros more than last year.
Tickets have been sold online to customers in more than 140 countries. The winning tickets bear the numbers 32365. The numbers were sung as a Gregorian chant by Madrid schoolchildren during a televised draw.
By tradition, schoolchildren sing out the winning numbers as they are drawn over a period of several hours. Tickets have been sold online to more than 140 countries and were purchased by four out of five Spanish residents.
Big fat nothing? Many punters had queued for hours in the capital to buy what organisers are calling "a slice of hope" in these troubled economic times.
In central Madrid, there was a final scramble for lottery tickets.
Many punters had queued for hours to buy what organisers are calling "a slice of hope" in these troubled economic times.
The notoriously complicated draw for El Gordo will take place over several hours on live television with 13,000 tax free cash prizes at stake.
Local schoolchildren sing the winning numbers in the form of a Gregorian chant.
Many Spaniards find an excuse to leave work, and watch the unfolding drama in bars and restaurants.
With the country on the edge of recession, ticket sales have been slightly down on last year.With the country on the edge of recession, ticket sales have been slightly down on last year.
For most players, El Gordo will come to a big fat nothing: Mathematicians say the probability of breaking even is less than 6%. But most said that buying their annual ticket remains a tradition they are unwilling to break.
"I have less money so I buy less but I've still bought 20 tickets this year," one man told the BBC's Steve Kingstone, in Madrid.
The notoriously complicated draw for El Gordo takes place over several hours on live television with 13,000 tax free cash prizes at stake.
Many Spaniards find an excuse to leave work, and watch the unfolding drama in bars and restaurants.
Rather than offering a single jackpot, the lottery boasts that thousands of ticket holders will achieve a win of some kind.
But for most players, our correspondent says, El Gordo will come to a big fat nothing - mathematicians say the probability of breaking even is less than 6%.