Is one of these the winning ticket number?

Following the buzz surrounding the massive El Gordo lottery, which was drawn on 22nd December attention is now turning to the other big lottery which is drawn on Sunday - El Niño.
The El Niño, which is held annually on January 6th offers another opportunity of big winnings, with a prize pool of 840 million euros!
The area was very successful for the El Gordo draw, with big winning tickets sold from outlets in Benidorm and also down the road in Albir.

Tickets are limited - 100,000 are printed with a 5 digit number between 00000 and 99999. Operating in much the same way, tickets are priced at 20 euros per section - there are ten sections, or decimos per number and players can opt to purchase one share or the entire sheet. Neighbours, friends and even entire villages club together to buy entire sheets, in the hope that they will win a share of the big jackpot! This year much emphasis was on one man who last year was the only resident in a village in Northern Spain NOT to take part in the syndicate, and yes you guessed it, they had THE winning ticket! However, his misfortune has turned around to a degree because they are now making a film based on his story....

El Niño means "the child" in Spanish and the lottery is held on "Dia de los Reyes" in which the Three Kings come to bear gifts to the newborn Jesus - el Niño, hence the name. The first Loteria del Niño was held in 1941 and became an official part of the Loteria Nacional in 1966. Between 1941 and 1999, the draw was held on January 5th, however, since the year 2000, the draw was moved a day and is now held annually on 6th January.

Yesterday´s queue at outlet in Alfaz

The first prize is called the "gordo" and is worth 2 million euros for a FULL ticket, meaning a 20 euro share is worth 200,000 euros! The second prize is worth 1 million euros BUT there will be 60 2 million  jackpot prizes and also 60 1 million ones turning 120 players into millionaires with this 2013 lottery draw! There are 15 winning prize categories in total and an incredible 37,000 winning number combinations for each ticket. Additional payouts are made on matching the last 3 and 2 digits of the 1st and 2nd prize tickets and players have a 1:3 chance of taking home a prize.

However, remember that new legislation from the 1st January 2013 means any winnings over 2500 euros will be taxed at 20%. For instance, if you are lucky enough to win 3000 euros, the first 2500 euros will be tax free and the balance of 500 euros will be taxed at 20% ie. 100 euros. This will certainly boost the Government coffers - which is bizarre as it already owns the lottery, so double whammy!

There are endless superstitions about choosing the perfect 5 digit winning number - but many opt for memorable dates such as birthdays and anniversaries. Some subscribe to the theory that if you rub the ticket on a pregnant woman´s stomach it will bring luck... maybe I should stand outside a lottery outlet with something stuck under my dress and charge 1 euro per rub! I was in Alfaz yesterday to buy tickets and the queue coming out of the shop was long... plus they didn´t have many left, so I´ll be off to Benidorm later in search of more. Must remember that pillow though.....

Good luck to everyone - let me know if any of you are big winners!