Spain’s Christmas lottery is a popular and well-loved annual tradition. It often culminates in the joyous detonation cava corks and hatching of big plans. This happened amid rising Covid infections, and the first strike by ticket sellers.
Many Spaniards were happy to be able to concentrate on El Gordo, the Fat One, and its EUR2.4bn worth of prizes after the country registered a record 49.823 coronavirus cases Tuesday night.
Tradition dictates that the draw for the lottery was held at Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house. Children from San Ildefonso school called out the winning numbers.
Many Spaniards join together to purchase tickets or fractions of tickets for the December draw. As the celebrations began in Spain, many lottery ticket sellers gathered outside the opera house to ask for a larger share of the sales revenue.
Vendors who had closed their doors for the day claim they are entitled to more than 4% of the ticket prices they receive. They argue that 80cs on a EUR20 ticket does not suffice. They also point out that the commission rate they receive has been frozen over 17 years, despite dramatic rises in living expenses, not to mention Spain’s skyrocketing electricity costs.
Natalia de la Fuente (daughter of a lottery seller) stated that prices go up while taxes go up, but commissions stay the same. “We must pay our bills… It is impossible.”
Alvaro de Miguel, another protester, stated that he and his co-vendors would do “whatever it takes” to get people to pay attention to them.
The winning number this year, 86148, won a prize of EUR400,000. At Madrid’s Atocha station, a stall selling tickets won the buyers who are likely from all over Spain. The total amount of their winnings was EUR516m.
Javier Monino, 56 years old, said that he was “super excited”. “Most people who bought them were people who walked by my window while they went through the station.”