![](https://imageresizer.static9.net.au/U_xwiOV_iLNpEq4RFxgasVm8ioQ=/750x0/https%3A%2F%2F1.800.gay%3A443%2Fhttps%2Fvms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com%2F2023%2F12%2F557065%2Fspainlotto.png)
The lucky holders of 20-euro tickets with the number 88008 will be celebrating this holiday season.
They each won €400,000 ($647,000), or some €325,000 ($526,000) after tax, in the top prize of Spain's huge Christmas lottery, which was drawn on Friday.
People across the country tuned into the draw across television, radio and online from the 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 live TV draw takes about four hours to get through all the numbers and typically brings Spain to a virtual standstill.
The immensely popular lottery will distribute a total of €2.6 billion ($4.2 billion) 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.
The winning numbers were called out by children from Madrid's San Ildefonso school.
The children picked up balls showing ticket numbers and their corresponding prizes from two giant rolling drums. They sang out both figures with a rhythmic cadence that is known to everyone in Spain.
In the weeks beforehand, queues formed outside lottery offices, especially those which had sold prize-winning tickets in the past.
Other lotteries have bigger individual top prizes but Spain's Christmas lottery, held each year on December 22, is ranked as the world's richest for the total prize money involved.
Spain established its national lottery as a charity in 1763 during the reign of King Carlos III. Its objective later became to shore up state coffers. It also helps several charities.
The December 22 lottery began in 1812. Since the beginning, the San Ildefonso college children have been singing the prizes.