Spain's "El Gordo," the world's biggest lottery, gave out 2.2 billion euros (1.6 billion pounds) in Christmas prizes on Saturday.

El Gordo, Spanish for "The Fat One", is designed so that as many people as possible across Spain get a festive windfall.

The top prize this year was 3 million euros -- going to the series of tickets with the magic number 06381.

Because the tickets are sold in a series of 10, only those who paid 200 euros for the whole strip get the full prize.

The biggest share of winning tickets was bought by people in the town of Nava, in the north-western Asturias region.

The draw lasts three-and-a-half hours and is carried live on national television with children from the San Ildefonso school, a former orphanage in Madrid, in turn chanting the winning numbers and the amount won.

Lotteries have two centuries of history in Spain.

The country spent 2.87 billion euros on the lottery -- 5.7 percent more than last year. Seventy percent is paid out in prizes. Most of the rest goes in costs.

Eight out of ten Spaniards bought tickets for the lottery, spending on average 64 euros.

Spaniards often choose lottery numbers matching significant dates although there was no particular favourite in 2007.

In 2006, one of the most sought-after series was 22105, the date on which Fernando Alonso became Formula 1 world champion for the second year running.

号称世界上规模最大的西班牙“El Gordo”圣诞彩票于上周六开奖，奖金总额高达22亿欧元（16亿英镑）。

“El Gordo”在西班牙语中意为“胖子”。“胖子”圣诞彩票的推出主要是为了给更多的西班牙人带来一份节日的意外惊喜。

今年的头奖奖金为300万欧元，中奖号码为“06381”。

由于彩票是以十张一组进行销售（译者注：人们可花20欧元购买其中的十分之一），因此只有花200欧元购买了整组彩票的人才有机会获得全奖。

位于阿斯图里亚斯自治区西北部的纳瓦市是今年的“黄金”中奖地。

整个开奖过程持续三个半小时，并通过国家电视台现场直播。在开奖现场，马德里的圣•艾尔德芬索小学（原为一所孤儿院）的学生们轮流报唱中奖号码及中奖金额。

西班牙的彩票历史已有两个世纪。

今年西班牙的“胖子彩票”销售收入达28.7亿欧元，比去年增长5.7%。其中70%的收入用于返奖奖金，其余大部分为销售成本。

今年西班牙全国有四分之三的人购买了“胖子彩票”，人均花费64欧元。

西班牙人常选择有特殊意义的日期作为投注号码，不过2007年似乎没有什么特别受到亲睐的日子。

去年最受青睐的号码是22105，因为在10月22日这一天，阿隆索连续第二年获得F1（一级方程式赛车）车手总冠军。