Spaniards are gripped to their television sets, radios and mobile phones, hoping to strike it rich as the nation holds its bumper Christmas lottery. The incredibly popular lottery, known as El Gordo (The Fat One), will dish out €2.24 billion (NZ$3.75 billion) in prizes this year. Other lotteries have bigger individual top prizes but El Gordo, held each year on December 22, is ranked as the world's richest for the total prize-money involved. READ MORE:* 'El Gordo' trumps politics as lottery fever grips Spain* Biggest lottery wins in historyChildren from Madrid's San Ildefonso school call out the prizes on a nationally televised drawing that begins around 9am (local time) at Madrid's Teatro Real opera house. Paul White Spain's El Gordo lottery is ranked as the world's richest for the total prize-money involved.

Source: Stuff December 22, 2019 08:48 UTC