ElGordo Up to 1,950 people have won a share in the world’s richest lottery – Spain’s El Gordo, or "Fat One".

The lottery has a total prize fund of $3.2bn (£2.14bn; 2.3bn euros), some 100m euros more than last year.

The winning tickets bear the numbers 32365. The numbers were sung as a Gregorian chant by Madrid schoolchildren during a televised draw.

Tickets have been sold online to more than 140 countries and were purchased by four out of five Spanish residents.

Many punters had queued for hours in the capital to buy what organisers are calling "a slice of hope" in these troubled economic times.

With the country on the edge of recession, ticket sales have been slightly down on last year.

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