"THE FAT ONE" lotto in Spain.

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The draw is dubbed "El Gordo" or "The Fat One" and has a total prize fund of around €2.32bn (£2.18bn), split into thousands of prizes.

The first prize of €300,000 (£284,000) went to ticket number 32365, which may appear on up to 1,950 tickets.

Each year it is drawn by children from the San Ildefonso school, a former orphanage, in a televised event.

They announce the winning numbers in a Gregorian chant - a ritual that lasts about three hours.

Around four out of five Spaniards buy tickets for the lottery, which cost €20 (£19) each.

And since tickets have been available to buy online, people from 140 other countries have also taken part, all eager to get their hands on the prize money.

The lottery is a Christmas tradition in Spain, designed to give as many people as possible a windfall just before the holidays.

A whopping 70% of the takings goes back into prize money, far more than other state lotteries.

The credit crunch has made the draw particularly significant this year.

Spain recently announced the highest unemployment rate in the EU, at 12.8%.

It is also on the brink of recession, as a decade-long property boom comes to an end .

Spanish households dedicate about 2% of their budget to lottery tickets and other forms of gambling, one of the highest rates in Europe.