Ester Lanchas quit her job to become a lottery girl and handed out 64 million ‘Gordos’ for Christmas in Madrid: ‘We still dream about it’

There are few days more special for millions of Spaniards than December 22, the day Extraordinary draw for the Christmas lottery. And there will be a few more special days in the lives of those Boatsthe family that runs the administration located in the number 8, rue Ricardo Ortizin the Madrid district of The ElipaIn Linear City.

They were responsible for bringing luck to the families who were lucky enough to benefit from the ‘Gordo’ from the Christmas lottery which was sold in the city of Madrid. Everything in his administration, the one that the father of EsterJosé, opened in 1988 and is now run by her and her husband after her father retired.

A well-deserved rest that now has its just reward, and that is that Ester was able to celebrate with her father and the rest of her family her most special day as a lottery operator, a profession that was inherited to her with some delay, since she originally had another job. However, as said Madrid Total Minutes after celebrating his award, he decided to change his life.

“I wasn’t very comfortable in the other place where I worked and I told my father that I was leaving him and that I was coming with him, permanently. My father was old, he was a few years away from retirement. Then my husband came with me.”. And the Lanchas operate as a great team that now has “luck”, something they have been pursuing for years.

“My mother went to buy champagne, we improvised. It’s something you dream about every year and it never happens.. It’s a lot of joy. My father opened this Administration in 1988, when I was 5 years old. He retired after 30 years and now here I am. We dedicate it to him too“.

Ester was visibly moved and even admitted that she couldn’t hold back her tears during these most special hours. “I was serving a customer because on Mondays we have more noise. The press called me and told me. I was very excited. I called my parents and my husband. We sold 16 series of 4 million euros. “It’s not a paid number, it’s random.”

Amid so many tears of satisfaction, Ester had time to joke and laughingly acknowledge her husband’s lack of skills as a clairvoyant, predicting a peaceful morning: “I’m very excited. When I found out, I cried. Then my parents came and we celebrated. My husband brought the child home with a fever and he told me there wouldn’t be a problem…I don’t even know how we’re going to celebrate. “Now I want to live in the moment.”

An intuition at Christmas

A moment that neither she nor the Madrid association rewarded with this award will surely forget, a success that was full of fortune, because it could not be otherwise. “I did shares at 4 euros, so it’s more distributed than we thought. An association from Madrid has it. Let’s see if they will come to celebrate.”

The winning group was Isegoria Associationwho define themselves as a “findependent gold of analysis and critical reflection for a more democratic, just and egalitarian society” and which is located in the Arganzuela district of Madrid.

But the most striking thing about this incredible story is that, as it could not be otherwise, nothing was planned. Not even that this number was going to be sold in this administration of La Elipa, since it was all due to a hunch about the dismissal of the person who negotiated with Ester the purchase of said interest.

“A customer came to me and said I wanted a ‘2’. I didn’t have that number, so I looked it up and gave it to him. It was very direct. No one has come here yet. I imagine someone from the association will come to celebrate. We’re waiting for you here.”.

Those who weren’t going to wait to party were the Lanchas, since they had never experienced a day as full as this Monday before Christmas 2025: “It’s the first time we’ve given the ‘Gordo’ for Christmas and it’s super exciting. The Thursday prize, the Saturday prize, the Primitiva, a fifth Christmas prize have been awarded… But it’s already crazy”.

What’s a shame for them is that they didn’t keep any tenth or part of that number: “We can’t take everyone.” But they do not exclude that there is a lucky person in this traditional neighborhood: “I think there must be someone in the neighborhood. On Wednesday, they came to do the calculation and a few tenths were left at the counter. I imagine, because it started in July. Last week, what was sold came from the neighborhood.”

From now on, Ester will undoubtedly become the favorite lottery of this association with which she admits to working for “6 or 7 years”. An illusion that has also reached an experienced lottery winner like José, his father, now retired and who experienced the emotion of the biggest day behind the scenes. “I’m super happy for everyone who touched it, for me and for my daughter”.