Hundreds of Spaniards took to the streets today, spraying cava sparkling wine, as they celebrated winning a slice of €1.8 billion in one of the world's biggest lotteries.
Known as "El Gordo", or the "Fat One", the lottery is a national institution that marks the start of Christmas for Spaniards. For three hours today radio and television ditched all other news to make way for a ceremony where specially trained school children sang out the winning numbers.
Spaniards spent €2.5 billion, an average of some €60 each, in the hope of winning big, official data showed.
The jackpot is shared among thousands - as people buy small parts of a ticket - and revellers took to the streets all over Spain to douse each other in celebratory cava.
A northeastern town called Sort, which means "luck" in Catalan, has won so many times that people flock there to buy their tickets. And once again, the town was true to its name. Winners, between mouthfuls of cava, shrieked about their money-fuelled plans, while some soberly contemplated the debt pile they would pay off.