Spaniards feed big, fat Xmas lottery

Spaniards are snapping up tickets in the annual Christmas lottery billed as the world's richest, despite a global economic slowdown that has saddled Spain with Europe's highest unemployment rate.

The strong demand for 'El Gordo' or 'The Fat One' bucks the trend in other European nations where cash-strapped consumers have dropped lottery tickets from holiday shopping lists, causing a slump in sales.

An estimated four in five Spaniards bought tickets for the lottery in 2007, spending on average 64 euros ($88) each for a total of 2.87 billion euros.