![Spain's "El Nino" lottery hands out $1.1 billion](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/ff/98/1357508830_8801_lottery.jpg?itok=OZk8OaAl "Spain's "El Nino" lottery hands out $1.1 billion")
On Sunday, Spain's $1.1 billion lottery (€840 million) gave plenty of joy to ticket holders in five working class regions of Spain. The lottery is dubbed "El Nino" (The Child) and it occurs on the Feast of the Epiphany, which is Jan. 6. The top prize tickets were sold in Alicante, Leon, Madrid, Murcia and Tenerife, reports ABC.
The price of the lottery tickets were €20 ($26), and the maximum that can be won is €200,000 ($260,240). However, due to recent austerity measures put in place, those that win any amount more than 2,500 euros ($3,250) have to pay a 20 percent income tax.
A jubilant crowd formed outside of a ticket office in southwestern Madrid. According to reports, 200 of the winning numbers were sold there, which totaled €40 million ($52 million) in prize money.
Here is what one of the winners had to say,
"I am very excited because I really needed this," said Josefina. "Now that I've won, I just think I've been very lucky."
Spain's $1.1 billion lottery will definitely give a much needed boost to their economy, which is just starting to emerge out of an almost two-year long recession.
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