Spain is celebrating as its annual Christmas lottery, El Gordo — the "Fat One" — shared a €2.7 billion prize pot among thousands of winners nationwide, offering a collective note of luck to close out 2025.

Madrid

Residents in the province of Leon, Spain, celebrated after winning the country's annual Christmas lottery, known as 'El Gordo.' The win comes after a challenging year for the community, which faced devastating wildfires and a mining accident that claimed five lives. 

The winning number, 79,432, awarded 400,000 euros per ticket, with many tickets shared among groups such as workmates and neighbors. In addition to Leon, a local football team and an Alzheimer's society were among the notable winners, as the lottery distributed thousands of prizes totaling over two billion euros nationwide.

Spain's Christmas lottery spreads shared wins nationwide

Celebrations on the streets of Spain, after-residents in the province of Leon were the big winners in the country's annual Christmas lottery. It's an uplifting end to what has been a turbulent year for locals, who have endured devastating wildfires and lost five members of the community in a tragic mining accident. It was very much needed. After the dark year we've had with the death of the miners and the depopulation we're facing, it's really great, we needed a bit of luck here. So much joy, so much emotion, we've cried, we've laughed, we've jumped, so much emotion, so much emotion, an enormous joy. The winning number in Monday's draw was 79,432, with one ticket worth 400,000 euros. Strips with the same number are often sold to groups of workmates or neighbours, meaning there is offered a huge payout for the winning ticket. This football team was one of the year's big winners, as well as a local Alzheimer's society. It's a joy for the entire area after all the wildfires and problems that have occurred. There are thousands of smaller amounts awarded to participants across Spain, with a total prize pot worth over two billion euros. But it's these small communities where the fortunes of the fat one brought the big prizes and some much-needed Christmas cheer.

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