[] [BTBBT Daily - 12/23]'Fat One' brings big prize to small town

-->

DAYS before Christmas, a tiny town of 2,000 in cash-strapped Spain found itself richer by 720 million euros (US$940 million) yesterday after scooping the top prize in the nation's famed Christmas lottery.

Billed as the world's richest, the lottery dishes out some 2.52 billion euros to winners across the nation.

The top prize - dubbed "El Gordo" (The Fat One) - was split among the holders of tickets bearing the number 58268. The number appeared on 1,800 tickets, giving winners 400,000 euros for their ticket that cost 20 euros.

The state lottery agency said all 1,800 tickets with that number were sold in the town of Granen, located in the arid and barren northeastern Los Monegros area.

Spain is struggling to emerge from a near two-year recession that has left it with a eurozone-high 21.5 percent unemployment rate.

The Gordo lottery aims for a share-the-wealth system, rather than a single jackpot, and thousands of numbers yield some kind of return.

Lots of people chip in together and buy shares of several or many tickets, meaning it is common for multiple prizes to go to the same town.

Other lotteries have larger individual top prizes but El Gordo is ranked as the world's richest for the total paid out.

Founded in 1812, the December 22 lottery is a favorite holiday tradition. This year, it sold an estimated 2.7 billion euros in tickets and the state lottery agency estimated per-capita spending of euro 70.

Spain holds another big lottery January 6 to mark the Feast of the Epiphany. It is known as "El Nino" (The Child), in reference to the baby Jesus.