Giant 'El Gordo' lottery grips Spain

Video caption, "You don't buy it you don't win...simple as that" - Costis Mitsokakis the only man in his village no to win three years ago

Christmas has come early for thousands of lucky winners in Spain's 鈧2.2bn (拢1.7bn; $2.7bn) lottery called "El Gordo" (The Fat One).

The winners included ticket-holders in Madrid, the south-eastern regions of Murcia and Valencia, A Coruna in the north-west and Cadiz in the south.

It is the world's biggest Christmas lottery, and the live televised draw grips the nation.

There were 10 top prizes, worth 鈧400,000 each, for ticket number 13437.

The lottery has a huge impact for the lucky winners in Spain, where the unemployment rate is nearly 24% and even higher among the under-25s. In some cases it can help hard-up people pay off their debts.

As is customary, the winners' numbers, revealed on wooden balls, were sung by a group of 22 children at Madrid's Royal Theatre.

Unlike many other lotteries, there is no single jackpot - instead the winnings are distributed among thousands of people.

The second prize was worth a total of 鈧1.25m and the third prize 500,000.

Image source, EPA

Image caption, A ticket seller, right, in A Coruna was among those celebrating after the draw