When lottery is a not-so-long shot, nearly all of Spain lines up to play

Thursday, December 22, 2005 posted 10:18 AM EST

LONDON — This year's $2.4 billion pot is helping Spain's annual lottery live up to its name: El Gordo, or The Fat One.

Thursday's drawing will be the largest amount in the 194-year history of the annual lottery, in which the winnings are divided among thousands of people.

Three out of four Spaniards hold tickets for Thursday's drawing, says Jesus Evangelio, director of Spain's lottery agency.

The average Spaniard will spend $151 on El Gordo tickets, says FUCI, an independent consumer group based in Madrid. Foreigners also can purchase tickets through the lottery's website (onlae.terra.es) and independent off-shore gambling outlets such as el-gordo.com.

Unlike typical U.S. lotteries, in which only a handful of people win the top prizes, El Gordo's pot is spread widely. Tickets are sold in books of 10 numbers for $24. The top prize — $356,565 — goes to each of the 1,900 people who bought books containing the winning number. Millions of others will win prizes ranging from $24 to several thousand dollars.

The winning numbers will be announced in a three-hour live telecast Thursday, hosted for the eighth straight year by British actor Clive Arrindell (best known in the USA as Lord Guarco in the 1992 film Christopher Columbus: The Discovery).

The worldwide appeal of El Gordo also has made it attractive to scam artists. Last summer, the Spanish national police, with assistance from the FBI, arrested 300 people suspected of bilking victims out of $24 million a year. Posing as Spanish National Lottery officials, the suspects sent spam e-mail promising victims, half of whom were from the USA, a cash prize, the FBI said in a statement. The e-mails said recipients could claim their prize after they paid "Spanish tax" on the winnings.

The Spanish government does not tax winners. Instead, it takes a 25Àut of ticket sales.

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