Hundreds win Spain 'fat' lottery

The lottery is designed to pay out as widely as possible.

Hundreds of people have shared big prizes in Spain's Christmas lottery El Gordo (The Fat One), which was worth 2.2bn euros (£1.6bn, $3.1bn) this year.

People who had one of the 185 series of the winning number - 6381 - each won up to 3m euros (£2.2m, $4.3m) in what is said to be the world's richest draw.

Holders of ticket number 55469 stood to get a share of the second prize.

Correspondents say El Gordo, with roots going back nearly 200 years, marks the start of Christmas for much of Spain.

The winning number was drawn in Madrid at 1100 (1000 GMT) on live television and radio.

Series of the first-prize tickets were sold across Spain, in such cities as Alicante, Madrid, Almeria, Barcelona and Toledo.

Most of Spain stops each year to watch the live lottery

However, the biggest share was bought by people in the town of Nava, in the north-western Asturias region.

The second-prize tickets were sold entirely in the north-eastern city of Barcelona.

An estimated three out of four Spaniards and thousands of foreigners took part, paying 20 euros (£14, $29) for each tenth of a ticket.

In all, the country spent 2.87bn (£2.1bn, $4.1bn) euros on this year's lottery, with much of the difference going on costs. It was a rise of 5.7% on last year's amount.

While other lotteries have bigger individual top prizes, the El Gordo is said to lead the world for the total sum paid out.