El Gordo lottery: Spain's €2.4bn Christmas draw takes place

400,000 euros will be awarded for the winning ticket

A pupil helps announce the winning numbers in the world’s biggest lottery (Getty)

Spaniards are hoping for a little Christmas luck today as the country watches the draw of the El Gordo lottery.

The bumper Christmas prize, known in English as ‘The Fat One’, will hand out 2.4 billion euros in cash this year.

Every El Gordo player aims to win first prize, where 400,000 euros is awarded for the right ticket.

Although other lotteries have bigger individual prizes, El Gordo remains the world’s biggest in terms of the total amount of money awarded.

1,807 winners will be announced today across Spain, despite the relatively modest top prize.

Many of the smaller prizes, worth thousands of euros, have already been announced, according to the Marca newspaper.

Pupils at Madrid’s San Ildefonso school are calling out the results of the nationally televised draw, which is held at Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house.

The Christmas lottery is held every year on 22 December.

Additional reporting by agencies