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December 22, 2025
Spanish villagers devastated by forest fire win €468m in lottery prizes
Mayor of La Bañeza says winning El Gordo Christmas lottery ‘is something that has fallen from the heavens’
TL;DR
- La Bañeza, Spain, won hundreds of millions of euros in the Christmas lottery after experiencing one of the worst forest fires in Spanish history.
- Villablino, a nearby town, also purchased winning lottery tickets after five men died in a mining accident.
- The forest fires destroyed 55,000 hectares, killed three people, and displaced 8,000 in August.
- The Spanish Christmas lottery, known as El Gordo, involves children from a Madrid school chanting winning numbers and prize amounts.
- A superstition suggests buying lottery tickets in places that have suffered tragedy, believing good luck follows bad.
- La Bañeza sold 117 series of the winning ticket, totaling €468m for its inhabitants.
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