SPAIN:When Spain's Christmas lottery, El Gordo, paid out €219 million to the inhabitants of a tiny northern village at the weekend, locals popped champagne corks and swigged cider, the region's traditional drink, as the prospects for the year ahead suddenly looked rosy.
For the 45 inhabitants of Molledo, the prize could not be more welcome. A remote village in the depressed region of Asturias, Molledo has struggled, along with many parts of rural Spain, as young people move to the city, leaving an ageing population.
More than half of the €2.2 billion paid out on Saturday went to ticket owners in Asturias, where happy winners ignored the driving rain and wind to run into the streets, cheering, crying and hugging each other. But in Molledo, where tickets were sold to villagers and their friends through the local Fiestas Association, the smiles were widest, as no one went empty-handed.
The secret to the success of El Gordo (the "fat one"), the world's biggest and oldest lottery draw, is that it divides up its payout, creating few millionaires but enriching all those who buy a share of the winning number.
Last year, another remote farming village was the lucky recipient of a big cash payout. The 20 inhabitants of Rebollo de Duero in the central province of Soria took home €18 million. Soria is one of western Europe's most sparsely inhabited regions, with dozens of villages left abandoned as people are drawn to Madrid and Zaragoza.
Just as in Molledo this year, Rebollo's handful of farming families - more used to being ignored - suddenly found themselves the centre of attention as TV stations from Japan to Argentina sent reporters to the village.
One year on, the villagers are tired of the attention they have received, and fearful of alerting criminals to their wealth.
"Rebollo is in the middle of nowhere and we are worried about criminal gangs coming to steal from us," said one of last year's winners. "The villagers are very old, and many are worried about the money."
In nearby Berlanga de Duero - a village of 600 people that shared €246 million last year - the mayor, Alvaro Lopez, said the win had not been entirely good news. "Although it was great for many individuals, as a community it initially had a negative impact - many people chose to retire early, which was damaging for the local economy," he said.
Even the bar in the village, where last year's winning tickets were sold, is now closed. But, he said, things had improved as "lottery tourists" flooded into the area to buy tickets for this year's lottery, hoping lightning would strike twice.