Winning El Niño lottery numbers are 30.875 and 46.674

THIS year's winning El Niño lottery ticket bears the number 30.875 and holders of a décimo will have won 200,000 euros.

Those who shelled out 200 euros for a full ticket got two million.

Most of the winning tickets were sold in Alicante city and in Alcorcón (Madrid), with a few others sold in the centre of Madrid, in Parla – near the capital, in León, Murcia and on the island of Tenerife.

A huge number of the winners are unemployed and struggling to pay their mortgage, meaning this final and unexpected Christmas present has changed their lives dramatically and for the better.

In Alicante, most of the 39 million euros in prize money ended up in the hands of members of the fiesta commission for the Benalúa district hoguera, or midsummer bonfire.

Second prize went to holders of tickets bearing the number 46.674, with a million euros for those with a full ticket and 100,000 euros for each décimo.

These were fairly widespread, with most being sold in Banyeres de Mariola (Alicante), Albacete, Almería, Palma de Mallorca, Dulcimayor and Cala Ratjada (Mallorca), Guareña (Badajoz), and Badalona and Sant Andreu de la Barca (Barcelona).

Others went to buyers in Madrid, Murcia, Valladolid, Lugo in the region of Galicia, Huelva, Figueres (Girona), Torrelavega (Cantabria), Azuqueca de Henares (Guadalajara), Benasque (Huelva), Linares (Jaén), and San Emiliano (León).

The 12 numbers which netted third prizes of 1,400 euros per décimo were 49.450; 34.701; 66.720; 11.182; 50.601; 15.094; 34.676; 26.316; 83.490; 12.522, and 45.916.

This is the first major State lottery subject to tax, with all winnings attracting 20 per cent in duties.

Only the first 2,500 euros of lottery wins will now be tax-exempt.