Spain’s bumper Christmas lottery ‘El Gordo’ starts dishing out prizes

The draw took place at Madrid’s Teatro Real opera house (AP)

People are tuning into the TV, radio and internet as children from Madrid’s San Ildefonso school sing out the prize-winning numbers in Spain’s huge Christmas lottery, known as “EL Gordo” (the fat one).

The immensely popular lottery will distribute a total of 2.6 billion euro (£2.2 billion) in prizes this year, much of it in relatively small sums.