Every time I hear about someone winning ten million pounds/euros/dollars in a lottery, I think (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this): ‘Yeah, but… wouldn’t it have been better if ten people had won one million?’

Well, that’s more or less what happens in Spain. Tomorrow nearly 2,000 people will share the first prize in the Christmas lottery, each winning €400,000 (£350,000). The same number stand to share the second (€125,000 each) and third (€50,000 each) prizes. So in total almost 6,000 Spanish households will suddenly be looking forward to a much better life. No wonder there are such explosions of joy the length and breadth of Spain every year on 22 December. 

Many of tomorrow’s winners will be like Perla, an unemployed waitress with two children who a few Christmases ago was sitting among the audience at the televised draw praying that her number would win. It did. Perla promptly fainted, but after receiving medical attention recovered to tell the television crews that she was going to use her share in the first prize to buy a home, ensure that her........

© The Spectator