THE FAT ONE: Don’t forget to pick up your ‘El Gordo’ lottery ticket before it is too late!

DOÑA MANOLITA in central Madrid sells more prize-winning tickets in the mammoth Christmas lottery than any other outlet.
The queues outside Administracion 67 demonstrate that the punters do not expect this year to be different when the winning numbers are drawn on Saturday morning.
After all, Doña Manolita outlet has sold the Christmas Lottery’s first prize – El Gordo – 78 times since it opened in 1904.
Concha Corona, the manager of Doña Manolita, revealed that ticket sales this year were better than ever but preferred not to quote figures until the 2018 campaign was over.
“The big push comes once the television advertisement comes out although there is also a lot of last-moment buying,” Corona said. “But this year people had better hurry up because we have almost sold out,” she warned some days before the draw.
Asked why they were queuing outside the modest-looking outlet, some members of public said they were there because it was a tradition but others claimed it was because Doña Manolita “is lucky.”
And while many were content to buy the usual “decimo” or tenth of a ticket, some were spending €500 or €600 in hopes of winning the biggest, fattest El Gordo prize.
Be sure to pick up your ‘El Gordo’ ticket before Friday, December 21.