School children sing out a prized number of Spain's Christmas lottery as they hold lottery balls, in Madrid, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015. Celebrations were guaranteed Tuesday in the southern beach town of... (Associated Press) 
 
 MADRID (AP) — Decked out in their school uniforms, young Spanish school children in Madrid's stately Teatro Real opera house sang out lottery numbers on live TV Tuesday for Spain's massively popular Christmas lottery that showered 2.2 billion euros ($2.4 billion) across the country. 
 
 They finally sang out "El Gordo," the biggest winner in the drawing: number 79,140. People who bought that number in a southern beach city were the luckiest ones this year. 
 
 But Spaniards all over the nation shared in the wealth because their lottery system doles out prizes much more broadly than lotteries with huge jackpots for just a few winners. 
 
 The No. 1 prize gives out a jackpot of just 400,000 euros, but more than 1,000 tickets win the big one and the lottery hands out 24 million prizes overall. 
 
 Though other lotteries make headlines with their larger top prizes, El Gordo (The Fat One) is ranked as the world's richest and makes its mark every year in Spain, uniting the country because almost everyone takes part. 
 
 With so many prizes, there are plenty of winnings for Spaniards who band together in office pools and groups of family members or friends to buy anywhere from one to dozens of the tickets costing 20 euros each. 
 
 People can't pick their own numbers, so if they want a certain one they have to go online to find out if it exists and if so which agency or agencies are selling it. 
 
 Across the nation, people stay glued to the television as lower level winning numbers are announced until El Gordo is sung out. Then a tradition kicks in, with people who purchased winning tickets on their own or in groups showing up outside the lottery agency that sold them the tickets for gleeful fiestas. 
 
 The lottery has always been immensely popular but has taken on special importance in recent years as Spain struggled through a real estate bubble and the European debt crisis. While lottery winners used to buy apartments or new cars during Spain's boom years, many winners hurt by the economic crisis now use winnings to pay off debt. 
 
 The top winning number is usually sold in a number of different agencies, but went this time to just one in the southern beach town of Roquetas de Mar, where elated winners arrived and cracked open bottles of sparkling wine for a celebratory street party. 
 
 The mayor called the win great news for his city in the province of Almeria, which relies on tourism and agriculture but has an unemployment rate of 31 percent — much higher than Spain's national 21 percent jobless rate. 
 
 "I'm really happy and I congratulate all the winners," Mayor Gabriel Amat told the Voz de Almeria newspaper. "It's very important for the town, especially in the difficult times we've been facing." 
 
 Similar scenes happened at lottery agencies around the country that sold tickets with lower payouts, with scenes of the street parties broadcast live on television. 
 
 The lottery was first established as a charity in 1763, during the reign of King Carlos III, but its objective gradually shifted toward filling state coffers. El Gordo itself dates from 1812 and the children who have sung out the numbers for centuries attend the Saint Ildefonso school. 
 
 School children also featured hugely this year for the top winning ticket — with nearly half bought from the Roquetas de Mar lottery agency by a high school in the nearby town of Laujar de Andarax, population of 1,600. Students then resold the tickets to raise money for a school trip, meaning the town was flush with winners. 
 
 "Nearly everyone has a ticket, or a share in one," Laujar de Andarax mayor Almudena Morales told Spain's Europa Press news agency. "They went to workers who need it a lot. And to top it off, they were distributed by the kids." 
 
 The lottery agency manager didn't buy any of his own tickets this year but told Spanish National Television he was happy so many people bought winners from him. 
 
 "I feel a great joy, mainly because it's so well spread out, especially among workers," Jose Martin said. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Harold Heckle contributed to this report. ||||| Christmas 2015 
 
 A shocked looking Ngame appears on TV Photo: AFP 
 
 Fiona Govan · 23 Dec 2015, 14:10 
 
 Published: 23 Dec 2015 12:10 GMT+01:00 
 
 Updated: 23 Dec 2015 14:10 GMT+01:00 
 
 A 35-year Senegalese man who was saved by the Spanish coastguard after making a perilous journey from Africa is celebrating his win of €400,000 in the Christmas lottery. 
 
 Eight years ago he arrived in Spain with nothing. But on Tuesday, Ngame cried with joy as he realized all his dreams had come true with the purchase of lottery ticket. 
 
 He was one of thousands who bought a ticket with the number 79140 from a lottery shop in the Andalusian seaside town of Roquetas de Mar. 
 
 The number won the top prize of El Gordo – the 'fat one' – in Tuesday’s draw, netting the town of 90,000 people a change in fortune. 
 
 Una historia para contar: Un inmigrante en paro con un décimo del gordo, en Roquetas de Mar. Foto: Carlos Barba pic.twitter.com/tQxcdlEhCE — Rebeca Carranco (@RebecaCarranco) December 22, 2015 
 
 "I want to give thanks to Spaniards and the Spanish government for rescuing me when I was in the sea," said the Ngame, choking back tears of joy as he appeared on television outside the lottery shop where the winning ticket was sold. 
 
 READ ALSO: Fat chance - the ultimate guide's to Spain's 'El Gordo' Christmas lottery 
 
 He later described how hard life had been since leaving his home in Senegal in 2007. 
 
 "There were 65 of us in the patera," he told La Voz de Almeria, describing the stricken wooden boat in which he had travelled with the woman who is now his wife. 
 
 Since arriving in Spain, the pair have tried to survive on temporary agricultural work as vegetable pickers in the greenhouses that cover much of that corner of Almeria. 
 
 "I just can’t believe this," he said gripping his winning numbers. " I can say that sometimes we haven’t had five euros between us a day…" 
 
 Ngame also chose to remember his last employer in the greenhouses, who recently laid him off. 
 
 "This is a souvenir to Antonio, who told left us to fend for ourselves," he quipped. 
 
 
 
 The winning numbers. Photo: Loteria Nacional 
 
 The winning number appeared on 1,600 'décimo' tickets sold exclusively from the lottery shop located at number 19 on Avenida de Roquetas. 
 
 Some 85 percent of the tickets were sold with each décimo - the €20 share of a tenth of a full ticket - winning the top prize of €400,000 before tax. 
 
 One school in the nearby Alpujarras had bought up almost half of the winning tickets in a fund-raising scheme to fund a student summer trip. 
 
 The school in Laujar de Andarax ended up selling 800 tickets to friends and family winning a total of more than €300 million. 
 
 "Nearly everyone here has a ticket or a share in one," the town’s mayor, Almudena Morales, told the news agency Europa Press. 
 
 "People are going crazy, nobody can believe it. The money went to down-to-earth people who work hard and who really needed it." 
 
 One couple from Aragon had bought the winning lottery ticket while on a recent holiday to the seaside town. As well as buying one décimo each, they bought seven others for friends and family, earning the group a combined €3.6 million. 
 
 Story continues below… 
 
 While José Martín, (pictured below) the vendor of the winning ticket, has become a local hero, he admitted that "sadly" he had failed to buy any of his own stock.
– It's time for the annual story that makes you wish you were Spanish. Spain has once again held its famous El Gordo lottery, doling out a total $2.4 billion to its people, reports the AP. Number 79140 was the big winner this year; the Telegraph reports that 160 "whole tickets" were sold for that number, with each being worth about $4.37 million. Per usual, poignant stories are emerging: A 140-person school in the Andalucia region took part in what the Telegraph terms a "lottery-selling scheme" to raise funds for a school trip. It bought and then resold nearly 800 décimos (each is 1/10th of a ticket, so the equivalent of 80 tickets) ... of number 79140, making for a $327 million windfall for the town. "Almost everyone in the village has a décimo, even if they shared it," says Laujar de Andarax's mayor. "They're going mad over at the school!" ... and now plotting a trip to Miami, not Italy. The schoolkids had bought the tickets from the lottery agency in Roquetas de Mar, the southern beach town that happened to have sold all the winning tickets (the AP points out that the winning number is generally sold by more than one lottery agency.) Another big winner in that town, per the Local: A 35-year-old Senagalese migrant who sailed from his homeland in 2007 and was rescued by a Spanish lifeboat. He entered Spain empty-handed, and has largely worked as a seasonal vegetable picker. "This is a souvenir to Antonio, who told ... us to fend for ourselves," he said of his last employer, who had laid him off.