Madrid - In the midst of the Christmas rush, there's a long line of people waiting patiently in central Madrid. They're not after this year's must-have item; they want a Christmas lottery ticket.

Despite rising unemployment and the ongoing financial crisis, Spaniards' enthusiasm for the annual Christmas lottery remains strong. After all, when the winning numbers are drawn Monday, the biggest lottery in the world could shower up to 2.3 billion euros (3.2 billion dollars) on some lucky people.

Indeed, the crisis seems to have spurred, not dampened, interest in the lottery. Now Spaniards who are having problems paying their mortgage or have lost their jobs have begun to see the lottery as a way out of financial problems.

"You can feel the impact of the financial crisis in that we are selling more lottery tickets," says one employee at Dona Manolita, a central Madrid shop where the tickets are sold. "We always say, we don't sell lottery tickets. We sell illusions."

The big prize, known as El Gordo (The Fat One), equals 3 million euros. There will be 195 winners this year, 10 times more than normal, since all the tickets, numbering 0 to
85,000, have been sold 195 times over.

But it isn't just the hope for a win that's driving lottery players. Almost 200 years old, the lottery has long since established itself as a Christmas tradition. It's as much a part of the Spanish Christmas as a Christmas tree is in other cultures.

The El Pais newspaper says Spaniards are the European "kings of games of chance." Lotteries, sports betting, casinos and gaming machines draw in 685 euros a year per person, more than in any other European country. People spend an average of more than 70 euros per person - including babies and the elderly - for the Christmas lottery.

Ticket buyers aren't the only ones looking forward to a big payout. Spanish banks and savings bank are eying the lottery winnings and hoping that the winners will soon be depositing that cash, boosting banks' holdings and liquidity.

The Finance Ministry will also be a big winner, taking in about 700 million euros to help shore up government budgets. There's also the possibility of more money for the state: if unsold tickets turn out to be winners, the money returns to the state.

"If there's an economic sector that can help the country out of this crisis, then it's games of chance," says Fernando Garcia Gudina, president of the Association of Lottery Vendors. "That's because these games belong to the sectors that have been least affected by the crisis."

Of course, all the excitement about the lottery obscures the fact that the odds of winning El Gordo are worse than winning other Spanish lotteries. Mathematicians calculate that 84.3 per cent of those playing the lottery will lose their money. Another 10 per cent will win back what they put in. Only about 5.7 per cent stand a chance of actually winning money.

For comparison's sake, another special holiday lottery, the winner of which is announced in January, carries a 7.8-per-cent chance of winning. (dpa)