Spain's 'fat' lottery delivers hefty $2.8 billion prize in centuries-old Christmas tradition

"El Gordo" originated in 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars. Now the drawing is watched live on television and livestreamed globally.

Spain’s 200-year-old holiday lottery, "The Fat One," delivered a hefty prize again this year, with over $2.8 billion in prizes warbled out by schoolchildren and watched live around the world.

The annual drawing for "El Gordo" took place Sunday at Teatro Real, the country's pre-eminent opera house, in the capital, Madrid.

Unlike many lotteries, it has no single jackpot, and the winnings are distributed among thousands of people in a complex system. Across the country, families, colleagues and friends often participate by pooling their money to buy tickets.

El Gordo, which is held annually on Dec. 22, is a key part of the Christmas season in Spain, offering one of the largest lottery prize pools in the world. Organized by the Spanish government, it originated in 1812 during the Napoleonic Wars, and the drawing is watched live on national television and livestreamed globally.

On Sunday, the top prize of 400,000 euros ($416,588) was won by several ticket holders with the number 72480 bought in the northern city of Logroño, the capital of the La Rioja region, according to El Gordo's official website.

The second prize amounted to 125,000 euros ($130,184), and the third was 50,000 euros ($52,073).

As is customary, there were lively celebrations across the country after winners were announced, with some popping bottles of Prosecco surrounded by friends and family.

The drawing began at 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET), with groups of people from towns and cities across the country gathering to watch.

Students ages 8 to 14 from San Ildefonso, a primary school that dates back more than 500 years, revealed the winners by singing the numbers and the corresponding prize amounts, which are drawn from wooden balls.

Tickets are printed and sold in series, meaning players buy printed tickets with numbers they did not personally choose.

The number of series changes each year, and this year, each number had 193 copies, meaning many people shared the same winning ticket number, according to the official website.

Most of the winners were from Spain’s capital, Madrid, according to the Gordo website.

Players can choose to buy two types of tickets: either a full ticket, called a billete, which costs €200 ($208), or a décimo, costing €20 (nearly $21), which is a tenth the size.

It is common for groups of people to divide the cost of billetes to play as part of syndicates because of the high cost, according to the Gordo website.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/el-gordo-spain-christmas-lottery-billions-rcna184974