The first prize of the El Nino Lottery has stayed on the coast. Number 89603 has been sold entirely in L’Escala, in Girona, a town with 10,520 inhabitants in the Alt Emporda region. Felix Pons is the owner of the administration L’Anxova Milionaria (The millionaire anchovy), in reference to the star product of L’Escala, a very touristic municipality that multiplies its number of inhabitants in summer. Excited and overwhelmed, he points out, on the phone, that his family business, where he has worked for 30 years, had always been a “graceful administration”, but that “an award of this magnitude had never fallen”.
Since his administration, he has sold the tickets that have left 80 million euros to the winners: 400 of them awarded with the 89603, at 200,000 euros each. Of these, 300 have been sold over the counter since November, while 100 were distributed in Alexis, a supermarket in Figueres, also in Girona. It may be that some of the tourists who have enjoyed a few days of vacation in this town, have also caught a pinch of fortune. Pons imagines that, since L’Escala is a territory with a large tourist sector, the prize will also have been “widely distributed” by people who were passing through his premises. Last year, L’Anxova Millionaria distributed 3.9 million euros in the extraordinary draw for Father’s Day, but the last grand prize that this administration has known was the Gordo de la Primitiva in 2014, with 12.
In total, the Loteria del Nino draw distributes a total of 700 million euros in prizes on this Three Kings Day. Unlike the Christmas Draw, in the El Nino lottery it is more common for the tenth to fall entirely in one town. Girona has been one of the most graced provinces these holidays: the Christmas Lottery Jackpot, with 400,000 euros for the tenth, fell in Platja D’Aro, another coastal town, while the second prize, at 125,000 euros for the tenth, distributed between Olot and Puigcerda.
A very distributed second prize
The number that has caused the most cava to be uncorked in all of Spain is that of second prize, 72289, because it has been sold in a hundred administrations in almost all of Spain. All the communities, except La Rioja and Cantabria, have been graced with the luck of this ticket. Among the lucky spots, some of the usual ones, such as the Madrid administration of El Elefante Blanco, located on Calle Arenal, which also sold 10 tenths of the Gordo from this Christmas lottery. Magali and Samuel, the vendors of this establishment, have accompanied the cava with roscon de Reyes and chocolates. This number has also been sold by the administration located in the Atocha station, which distributed more than 500 million euros in the 2021 Christmas lottery by selling 129 series of El Gordo.
Fortune has also come from the supermarket of the Coviran chain in Lachar (Granada), which has sold part of the second prize. Antonio, the manager of the premises, has explained to Europa Press that two hours after the draw, he still did not know the number of tenths sold in the establishment. “We live it with joy because it is not the first time that we have awarded a lottery prize”, commented the person in charge of the business.
The administration of La Ranita, in Salamanca, spread joy in the Christmas raffle, and has done it again with El Nino by distributing some loose second prize numbers. Its manager, Javier Garrote, is very clear that his work also serves to put the city on the map: “We are very happy because we are the Salamanca brand, we like Salamanca, we love Salamanca, we are in the center of Salamanca, we sell Salamanca lottery to all of Spain and Salamanca it was not appearing in the jackpots, so, well, we have been the ones who have put it there”, he pointed out after the Christmas raffle.
The number 18918, the third prize, has been distributed in three locations: Lugo, Alzira (Valencia) and Guillena (Seville). In this last town, the draw has left five million euros because one of its administrations has sold 20 complete series, that is, 200 tenths. In statements to Europa Press, Manuela Jaen, owner of the Loteria office, has shown her satisfaction in the midst of the party that surrounded her, especially since it is the first important prize that she has given since it opened to the public, in the year 2000. ” The tenths have not only been distributed in this municipality, but I am aware that some have also been taken to Las Cabezas de San Juan, and I even have a tenth in charge of a woman from Madrid, who has already called me to remind me of it ”, he has insured the person in charge of the administration of Lottery.
This third prize has distributed almost five million euros in the Valencian regions of Ribera Alta and La Safor, thanks to the administration number 3 of Alzira, which has sold 197 tenths. Most of the tickets were sold at the La Ribera bar, in Tavernes de la Valldigna. Sergio, the owner of the bar, had subscribed to that number for 18 years, as indicated in statements to the Efe agency.
Shortly after finding out that it had sold some 3.75 million euros, the establishment was filled with lucky customers who celebrated this lucky break with cava, since each tenth has a prize of 25,000 euros. “We are celebrating to the fullest, with cava and with an overflowing joy”, commented Sergio full of emotion, surrounded by clients who never cease to congratulate him for having brought luck to Tavernes, a town of about 17,000 inhabitants in the region of La Sapphor. Sergio today will serve more cava than coffee to celebrate his luck.
