Lucky holders of 20-euro tickets with the number 88008 will be celebrating Friday. They have each won 400,000 euros ($440,000), or some 325,000 euros after tax, in the top prize of Spain's huge Christmas lottery.
People across the country tuned into the television, radio and internet from early morning as children from Madrid's San Ildefonso school begin singing out the prize-winning numbers in the lottery known as "EL Gordo" (the fat one).
The immensely popular lottery will distribute a total of 2.6 billion euros in prizes this year, much of it in small winnings. Street and bar celebrations normally break out, with winners uncorking bottles of sparkling wine and singing and dancing.
The event is televised nationally from Madrid's Teatro Real opera house.
Purchasing and sharing tickets, known in Spanish as "décimos" (tenths) in the run-up to Christmas is a major tradition among families, friends, co-workers and in bars and sports and social clubs.
