It was 1:16 p.m. when the Lottery Jackpot finally came out. 88008 is already the latest first prize in the history of this draw that Yesica Paola Valencia Gómez and Francisco Moreno Durán have sung and that has been distributed throughout Spain. At that moment, in the Royal Theater of Madrid, the Pope, Captain Spain, the hot dog, the Valencian foxes, the witch, everyone, have risen from their seats in torrential applause and shouting “Come in.” of gold!”, a phrase used in the television program Got Talent when the public encourages the jury to give the approval to an artist. They had been waiting for more than three hours this Friday, December 22, after more than 16 days in line, which they did in succession, to guarantee a seat in this theater.
Jaén is one of the cities where the most tenths have been distributed. 80 million euros have reached the members of the Lola Torres Choir and Dance Association, one of the most traditional folk groups in this Andalusian city. “We are excited, because we have been there for a short time and we have already distributed the Gordo,” said Montse, the lottery operator of this administration located in the urban center of the capital of Jaén.
Jon Urkiola can't believe it. Throughout the morning of this Friday he was going crazy celebrating that in his establishment in the Artea de Leioa shopping center (Bizkaia) he had sold four of the fifth prizes, the earliest ones. What he did not expect is that luck was going to go further. “El Gordo has also fallen on us, you couldn't ask for more,” he commented exultantly while he received hugs and congratulations.
José Vicente has had the same feeling after luck has smiled on his administration El Paraíso, in Jerez de la Frontera, up to four times. First it was a fifth, then another two and, in the end, El Gordo, of whom he has sold a series per window. The lottery doesn't know who got it. “Even if I knew, I couldn't tell you,” he says and then points out: “Whoever buys is from the neighborhood.” Last year they also sold the first prize. “We had increased our sales thanks to that,” says the lottery. “We are on a roll,” explains Vicente.
At number 16 Arenal Street, in Madrid, the champagne has been uncorked again. “Two years in a row giving El Gordo and, this year, in addition, two fifth prizes,” said Guillermo Madán (48 years old), one of the seven partners of El Elefante, one of the administrations where the most coveted ticket in El Elefante has been sold. this December 22nd. “We have been here for six years and in all six years we have given Christmas prizes,” he said. “Several days of celebration await us,” predicts Madán, who has begun to spray liquor on the curious and workers at the point of sale, located on one of the busiest streets in the city.
An employee of the lottery administration at the Carrefour shopping center in Montequinto (Dos Hermanas, Seville) could not contain her emotion when this newspaper confirmed by telephone that she had won the first prize. “I don't know what we have sold, or to whom. This is very strong, don't ask me anything because I can't answer,” she said excitedly. “We hit the jackpot, auntie!” She managed to tell one of her colleagues. In La Sort de Alzira (Valencia) they have distributed four million euros of the first prize and two tickets of a fifth, 57421. For its manager, Soraya Escolà, it is the best way to celebrate their silver anniversary this year: “20 years ago “We didn't give a prize at Christmas for years and this year, two.”
María del Mar Montoya is the head of the lottery administration of the Copo shopping center, in El Ejido (Almería) and has sold the second prize 58303. “It is a machine, so we don't know who it might have won,” she explained . In 2002, this administration already gave the Gordo de Navidad and also El Niño, in addition to a fourth prize in later years: “The truth is that we do give luck.”
“I don't believe it, I have two tenths of the second prize!” Rafael Platero said exultantly. He bought two tenths of 58303 in administration number 5 in the Madrid town of Fuenlabrada. “I don't plan to do anything special with the money, just have a good Christmas!” This neighbor is one of the 10 people from Fuenlabrada who won this tenth. Josefa Rodríguez, owner of this administration for 37 years, is still not aware. “It's the first time we've distributed a Christmas Lottery prize,” she says happily. One of her workers, Esperanza Madrid, says that it fills her with happiness that such a big prize has fallen in a humble neighborhood like this. “Our clients are always the same, very hard-working and very kind!” She notes.
The fifth early risers
The fifth prizes have been the earliest. Lottery experts have calculated, with more or less certainty, that they have been leaving with a difference of 10 minutes in order to break the initial torpor that they were trying to manage among those attending the Teatro Real hall. One of them, 92023, has fallen into the administration located at number 13 Carboneros Street, in La Línea de la Concepción. “We have sold 100 tickets, 10 series,” the lottery operator explained excitedly on the other end of a phone so saturated with calls that it was interrupted. For now, the administration does not know who they have distributed the lot to, although they suspect that it has been “to lifelong clients who have been buying them by tenths” in an Administration that is about to turn 100 years old. Dunia Godino can barely contain her tears. The administration worker El piojo de laluck, also in La Línea de la Concepción, has sold 15 series of the fifth prize 01568. She distributed most of the tenths to the nearby bar Los primos. “Today is going to be a crazy day in La Línea,” exclaims the lottery girl.
José Miguel Delgado is the owner of the lottery administration on Sierpes Street, in the heart of Seville, and has also distributed a fifth prize with the number 01568. “It is a low number and I don't know who we have sold it to, probably to some tourist,” he explained and with some irony he said that, although he is excited, it does not take him by surprise. “He knows us even a little,” he responds with laughter.
Abel Caballero will probably have another slogan to sell Christmas in Vigo next year. Three fifth prizes have fallen next to the tallest Christmas tree in Spain, at the Porta do Sol lottery administration in Vigo.
A long draw with anecdotes
The draw has had to be stopped for a few moments on two occasions, already around 1:00 p.m., to the despair of the attendees who were eager for the Gordo to come out, due to a breakdown in the numbers drum. The handle of the mechanism that activates the outlet of the balls has become loose, so an operator has had to intervene, screwdriver in hand. And the two biggest prizes, without leaving. With the crank placed back in its place, the draw continued.
Also at around one in the afternoon, one of the girls from San Ildefonso, Kiara Román, personified the long wait like no one else, with a face of resignation and a snort as she looked at the ball that determined that the prize she was handing out was a fifth prize, not the first. One of the images of the day that she shared with three of her colleagues, who saw how the balls fell out of their hands when they came out of the bass drum and rolled on the floor of the Teatro Real stage.
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