The Spanish Christmas lottery, El Gordo or ‘The Fat One’, is the largest lottery in the world and also one of the oldest, which began in 1812. Although the first prize is currently ‘only’ 4 million euros , El Gordo has the largest prize pool of any lottery in the world, last year totaling more than two billion euros .
How the El Gordo Spanish Christmas Lottery works
The Spanish Christmas Lottery is different from most lotteries in the world. Tickets are very expensive, but you don’t have to buy the entire ticket. However, if you don’t buy everything, you can’t get the full prize.
Tickets cost 200 euros each, but can be divided into “we say” – tenths . If you only buy a single tenth , you can only win one tenth of the prize that the ticket wins. There are 160 series – each series has a € 4 million jackpot and around 15,000 smaller prizes. Each series has 100,000 tickets, numbered from 00,000 to 99,999.
Unlike most lotteries, there are several ways to play El Gordo, and some are very sociable. It is not necessary to be in Spain at Christmas: tickets go on sale in summer.
- On your own : if you are in Spain before December 7, go to the official ‘Loteria Nacional’ office, each city will have one. You don’t need to buy a full ticket, but if you don’t and your ticket wins, you will be sharing your winnings with a stranger! Tickets go on sale in summer.
- With friends : buy a full ticket with friends and share what we say with each other. As everyone gets their own tenth, there can be no catch, everyone gets their share!
- In a bar in Spain : If you see a number written on a window, ask if they have tickets left. Then chat with your new friends for a beer about how they would spend their winnings!
- On the Internet : There are several organizations that offer tickets online.
- As part of a union
How the drawing takes place
El Gordo is drawn every December 22. The process is long (it takes more than three hours), so you will see people sitting next to their radios for much of the day, waiting for the results.
The draw uses two huge spheres, one with wooden balls with the 5-digit numbers and the other with balls with the prizes.
While the draw is taking place, two children stand next to the spheres. One chooses the ball with the prize amount, while the other chooses the ball with the ticket number.
The balls are then taken to a table where the official lottery observers are, and the members of the lottery commission take note of the winning number and the corresponding prize. Then the balls are placed on a special shelf for records.
This repeats for hours until all the prizes are awarded.
What is the Children’s Lottery?
A second drawing takes place on January 5. You will have to buy new tickets for this raffle. This is the same day as the processions for the Day of the Magi in Spain.
