The Christmas lottery tickets hidden around Almeria's MiniHollywood
As part of his 'Se busca el Gordo' initiative, lottery ticket seller Jesús Ibáñez will hide 20 tickets of the 98,126 number at the theme park in the Tabernas desert on Friday 19 December
E. P.
Almería
Tuesday, 2 December 2025, 18:18
Jesús Ibáñez, a lottery ticket seller in Almería city, has become a well-known name in the province as each year he hides Christmas lottery tickets in emblematic places in the days leading up to the event. This year Ibáñez has decided to hide 20 tickets around MiniHollywood, the Western film set and theme park in Tabernas Desert. The tickets will have the reference number: 98,126 as part of his 'Se busca el Gordo' (Looking for the jackpot) initiative.
The lottery ticket seller said that the activity, which will take place throughout the day on Friday 19 December, has the support of the theme park, from which he received a "resounding yes" after he proposed his idea, which has now been running for eight years. He says that the red envelopes containing a ticket could "be anywhere: the gallows, the saloon, the jail, the sheriff's office or the barber's shop".
"It's one of the scenarios I've been thinking about for quite some time," explained the promoter of this initiative to Europa Press. Last year he decided to share his luck among the health professionals in Almeria and Granada who helped him recover from a serious heart problem.
In the past tickets have been hidden not only through the streets of Almeria city but also under the sea, where a group of divers went in search of good luck. Ibáñez sold a winning 'El Gordo' ticket in 2023, in 2022 he sold one of the fourth prizes and in 2021 his 'La Trece' ticket office distributed 8.5 million euros with a third prize in the Christmas draw.
