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Since so many people chip in to buy tickets in groups, top prizes frequently end up being handed out in the same small town or in one city neighborhood. Last year's top winning number hit for 1,800 tickets in the northern town of Granen, population 2,000. Townspeople shared about
euro700 million ($925 million), and the rest of the euro1.8 billion ($2.4 billion) was doled out in smaller prizes around Spain. The Dec. 22 lottery began in 1812 and last year sold an estimated
euro2.7 billion ($3.6 billion) in tickets with per-capita spending of about
euro70 ($92) just for the Christmas lottery. Spain holds another big lottery Jan. 6 to mark the Feast of the Epiphany. It is known as "El Nino" (The Child), in reference to the baby Jesus. But the crisis will hit El Nino and all lotteries going forward. Until now, lottery winnings have been free from taxation, but now prizes above
euro2,000 ($2,640) will be liable to a 20 percent tax in 2013. The government has imposed stinging austerity measures this year in a bid to prevent Spain from asking for a full-blown bailout like those granted to Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus. Spain's unemployment stands at 25 percent and its economy is sinking into a double-dip recession.
[Associated
Press;
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