Winners in Spain received part of a whopping €840 million or $1.1 billion from the lottery. The Associated Press reported that winning tickets were purchased in five regions of Spain and that the lottery which is called "El Nino" iss held on each "Feast of Epiphany" on Jan. 6.
Winning lottery tickets went to people in Leon, Madrid, Tenerife, Alicante and Murcia.
Unlike in the U.S. the most that someone can win in the lottery is €200,000 ($260,240) and tickets cost €20 ($26). The AP also reported that anyone who wins above 2,500 euros has to pay 20 percent income tax on the winnings.
"I am very excited because I really needed this," said one winner, Josefina, from the Madrid suburb of Alcorcon to The AP, "Now that I've won, I just think I've been very lucky.
In Alcorcon there were 200 winning numbers sold which totaled €40 million ($52 million) in winnings.
Spain's even more lucrative lottery, "El Gordo" is held on Dec. 22. Last year the winners split distributed €2.5 billion ($3.3 billion).
The Guardian reported that El Gordo was first held in 1812 and has become a tradition amongst Spaniards. They reported that on average people spend €70 a person on tickets.
"The rest is held on to by the state lottery fund to cover costs and boost Spain's exchequer - with sales income from the Gordo reducing the country's deficit by the equivalent of 0.1% of GDP. Spaniards are glued to television sets, radio and the internet every 22 December as the lottery numbers are picked out at a Madrid theatre by schoolchildren," reports The Guardian.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
