Gordo Prize To Be Split Among Many
The Plaza de la Cultura was invaded last night by thousands, with tickets in hand, looking to be a millionaire, as the annual lottery draw for the "Gordo Navideño" took place live.

The winning numbers for the first price was series 617, number 40, which according to the vendor of the ticket, who is accustomed to selling lotteries at the corner of Avenida Cental and Calle 1, in front of Manolos restaurant, was sold to a number of players.

The vendor remembers selling the number but to the buyers. In addition, she said last night that her son, who helps her sell the tickets, took a number of the 40 portions that make up one ticket and sold them in Alajuela. "

As of last night no one had come forward to make claim to the big price that paid out ¢500 million colones (us$970.800) dollars for an "entero" - the complete set of 40 portions of the ticket. Winners holding portions of the ticket will share the prize money.

The event began early in the morning as the state for the draw was erected and the sound and video crew worked all day setting and testing equipment. Early in the afternoon, once all the equipment was set up and tested, live bands made their way on stage, offering live music to fill the sunny and hot afternoon.

At the edge of the Plaza, the Junta de Protección Social de San José (JPS) - the state lottery authority - set up a mobile stand to sell lottery tickets to last minute players. The JPS stand sold the tickets at face value ¢700 colones for a portion of ¢28.000 for an "entero".

Lottery vendors all along the Avenidas and Calles of downtown San José were doing a brisk business selling their remaining tickets, some selling for as much as ¢1.000 colones for each portion. Ticket buyers were seen scurrying from vendor to vendor looking for a particular number to play.

At 6:00pm sharp the ceremonies leading up to the draw began, as Luis Polinaris, general manager of the JPS, and JPS officials took the stage. at 7:02pm, minutes after the beginning of the draw, the "gordo" was drawn, with the winning numbers: series 617, number 40, announced.

The first "gordo" was held in 1986 with a grand prize of ¢40 million colones. The exchange rate of the colones to the dollar on December 17, 1986, was ¢58.15 (source BCCR). making the grand prize worth us$678.876 dollars back then, a time when the purchasing power of the colon was much greater than it is today.

Moments before the draw was to begin, the event was marred by an angry group of vendors who wanted the JPS to make good on their promise to receive their unsold tickets. Police has to be called in to control the small group and restore order.

Authorized vendors purchase the tickets from the JPS and can then hand back their unsold stock. The group demanded that the JPS manager, who was on stage, order is officials to accept their unsold tickets as they had been promised. Polinaris told the group that this was the time to hand prizes and that on Monday the would deal with the vendors.

Polinaris added that many vendors got stuck with unsold tickets because they tried to hoard the numbers, ordering more than what they could sell, especially since the market has seen a great demand from the lower numbers, as vendors got stuck with the higher numbers.

For those who didn't win last night, the JPS has two consolation draws coming up: the first on Sunday December 24 and the other on Sunday December 31. The 24th draw will pay out a big prize of ¢120 million, while the 31st draw will pay out ¢100 million.

Tickets for those draws are ¢350 colones and ¢300 colones for a portion, respectively.

For a complete list of the winning numbers of last night's draw can be found at: http://www.jps.go.cr/