1,700 1st prize winning lottery tickets.... all from the same small town?????

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 1,700 1st prize winning lottery tickets.... all from the same small town?????

Posted: 12/22/2005 6:31:34 PM EDT

Okay maybe I don't fully understand the Spanish "El Gordo" lottery - I get the idea that there are a LOT of 1st place winners but how the HELL do ALL 1,700 1st place winners manage to come from the same town!???

Spanish town blessed with massive 'El Gordo' Christmas lottery winnings

VIC, Spain (AP) — The fat man came early to this Catalan town known for churches and convents, blessing it with Christmas lottery winnings of $612 million

The sweepstakes known as "El Gordo" — the Fat One — sprinkled more than $2.4 billion in cheer throughout Spain on Thursday — a 200-year-old tradition that shuns jackpots in favor of thousands of shared numbers that spread the wealth.

All 1,700 first-prize tickets, each worth $360,000, were sold by one lottery office in Vic, a town of 30,000 about 40 miles north of Barcelona.

"I won't believe it until I see the money," said Alexandra Montaner, 18, giggling as revelers chugged bottles of sparkling wine and sprayed it on each other on the streets of Vic. "I have never seen so many people on the streets."

Montaner, who works at her family's catering company, plans to buy a new car and treat her parents to a fancy vacation with the proceeds from her winning ticket.

Police had to cut off a street where crowds thronged the lottery office that sold the top prize tickets.

"This has absolutely overwhelmed us," said Miquel Colina, the office manager.

Spaniards were in suspense for nearly three hours until the first-prize number — 20085 — fell from a golden tumbler during a televised ceremony. It takes so long because nearly 1,800 numbers bring rewards ranging from the ticket's $24 face value to the top prize — "El Gordo."

It was not the first time one town came away with all "El Gordo" tickets. It happened last year in another town in Catalonia, one named Sort — Catalan for "luck." In 2000, the fortune befell the town of Segovia, 30 miles north of Madrid.

Bars and restaurants traditionally buy many of the tickets to resell, either for the face value or divided into shares.
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Can someone please 'splain this to me?

Posted: 12/22/2005 6:45:53 PM EDT

[#1]

"sus números afortunados son..."

Posted: 12/22/2005 6:50:10 PM EDT

[#2]

It's just a bunch of lucky people who all live in the same town. Hell, there's probably another town not too far away where everybody is unlucky. Happens all the time.

Posted: 12/22/2005 6:51:32 PM EDT

[#3]

I am not sure exactly how it works. But certain numbers for certain days have alot more winners for it. I heard a few years ago that in some state that 666 came up on Halloween and they more winners that day than anyother day by like 2 or 3 fold.

Posted: 12/22/2005 6:53:33 PM EDT

[#4]

Well, for starters you have to remember that European lotteries cost around $25-$100 each to begin with.

It takes so long because nearly 1,800 numbers bring rewards ranging from the ticket's $24 face value to the top prize — "El Gordo."

And then there are only so many numbers that a ticket can hold,etc...

Posted: 12/23/2005 9:40:25 PM EDT

[#5]

Don't forget we had that happen not too long age back in the NY area. Some fortune cookie company put the numbers in a batch of several thousand cookies and whole bunches of people decided to play those numbers and hit the second place eombo.

Posted: 12/23/2005 9:42:36 PM EDT

[#6]

*heh* Takes "Luckytown" to a whole new level.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 1,700 1st prize winning lottery tickets.... all from the same small town?????

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