Christmas traditions differ from place to place. In each and every country there might be unique ways to celebrate this winter event. For instance, after Santa has already given the presents to the little ones in another country, the kids in Spain wait till the Three Kings day comes, on January 6th. It’ is a very important holiday in Spain, not just for the gifts, but also for the massive parade. But that’s not everything special about Spanish Christmas traditions. How does winning 4 million euros sound to you? Spanish Christmas lottery gives you such a chance. If you know nothing about El Gordo – this article is made for you. Every year, on December 22 Lotería Nacional takes place, which is the biggest lottery in the world, judging by its total prize amount. Whether you are or not from Spain – you might still want to get to know it better, as everyone can participate and win El Gordo.
Introduction to Spanish Christmas Lottery
The official name of the lottery is Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad or Loteria de Navidad, but it is also known as El Gordo lottery. The Spanish community has been holding this tradition since 1812 and it didn’t change much since that time in history. The original idea dates back to the times when it was needed to raise funds for the Spanish troops fighting against Napoleon. However, since then it evolved into a long-standing Christmas tradition, with a huge celebrating event followed, where people share their luck and joy with friends, relatives, and co-workers. There’s an official Spanish Christmas Lottery website, where a lot of information may be found. Madrid welcomes everyone for this great celebration.
Christmas and Lotto belong together in Spain in a way
How does the Spanish Christmas lottery work?
The main framework for the lottery is rather typical – you buy tickets and there are the winning ones. However, the Christmas Lottery game in Spain holds more behind. Let’s discuss it in stages. So we start with how to get your tickets?…
El Gordo is the most famous Christmas lottery in Spain
Step one: Ticket purchase
Tickets for the Spanish Christmas lottery may be bought in different lottery offices in hypermarkets as well as small tobacco shops or sometimes even cafes and restaurants. In Spain, there are some places, concerned to be lucky by the number of winners to get their lucky tickets there. For example, a small town called Sort. People tend to group into pretty big lines because of the desire to get their tickets from there. You may also buy them online through the website. The tricky thing here is that if you are a foreigner you should pick the site very carefully. Try to gather as much information as you can in order to avoid fraud.
The ticket system is a bit more complicated as in all the other lotteries, so you should know the next few names:
- Billete. It’s a basic ticket, the price for which stands at 200 euros. Before you start thinking that it’s quite an expensive price for the lottery ticket, you should consider that it may be divided. Follow the next points.
- Decimo. This name denotes sub-tickets. In fact, one decimo corresponds to one tenth of a ticket, so the price for it stands at 20 euros. It is the most common Spanish lottery purchase.
- Participacion. Piece of a decimo. Sometimes, people buy decimos and divide them into smaller pieces. Those participaciones may be bought in cafes and restaurants as well. As participacion corresponds to a small part of a ticket, it is more about the idea to share than about the actual chance to win a big sum.
- Numero. The five-digit number of a billete, a decimo or a participacion.
- Serie. A set of lottery tickets with the same numero. Each series consists of 100,000 billetes. In 2019 there were 170, for a total of number 17,000,000. In 2022 the number of series is 172, so there will be 172,000,000 tickets.
Sharing is caring
El Gordo reflects more than just some drive to win money. The main idea is described in the Spanish lottery slogan ‘El mayor premio es compartirlo’ translated into English as ‘The greatest prize is sharing’. The division of tickets into smaller pieces created a feeling of unity among the Spaniards. Many people have their tickets bought together with their family and friends and share the same ticket number. Sometimes, a company buys those and spreads the decimos among its workers. Lottery El Gordo teaches people not only to pray for the winning number but also to share joy with each other. The power of being united goes throughout the country from small towns to big cities, from students to pensioners.
El Gordo is known all over the country
Step two: Lottery draw
The ticket sale starts a few months in advance. The Christmas lottery draw happens on Dec 22 and is a huge event indeed. The study shows that almost 90% of adults in Spain participate in the Spanish Christmas lottery. The final draw is held at the Teatro Real Opera House in Madrid. The organizers take out balls from two Machines, called ‘bombos’. The first contains 100,000 bullets, numbered from 00,000 to 99999 that make up the prize number. In the second – 1,807 bullets, on which the amounts of cash prizes are applied. Those wooden balls are quite special actually. They are equal and the number is engraved with the help of a laser, so there was absolutely no difference in the material applied. The 2 balls are taken at a time, which forms a win for a particular ticket number. These two small wooden lottery balls are then displayed publicly.
Madrid also welcomes students from San Ildefonso school, who come to Teatro Real to sing out the ticket numbers of the winners. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks display a photo for each winning number. The ceremony lasts for a few hours until all the winning tickets are announced. Meanwhile, people dress in lottery-styled clothing, carrying some things with a logo and waiting for the winning numbers and prizes with pure joy and excitement this country can only show.
Become a millionaire with a ticket to the lottery – the dream of many.
Step three: Prizes
So how much can you win? We know that this question triggered you from the beginning. Spanish Christmas Lottery had a total prize money payout of 2,38 billion euros in 2021. The winning prize, called El Gordo or the fat one as translated into English reached 4 million euros and will be the same for 2020. The lottery world counts the Spanish Christmas lottery as the biggest one. Well, even though 4 million does sound like a lot of money it will be divided among those having the same lottery numbers. So the Spanish lottery known as the biggest does not bring the most money to 1 particular winner, it just gives more Spaniards the chance to enjoy their luck. One would also need to know that 30% of the lottery sales goes to the government in taxes and 70% of the ticket sales is paid out in prize money. El Gordo used to be tax-free up until 2013. Since then, each lucky lottery ticket over 2500 euros will undergo a 20% tax.
In general, we would like to show you the list of the last year’s winners:
- 1st El Gordo: €4 million
- 2nd: €1.25 million
- 3rd: €500,000
- 4th: two prizes of €200,000
- 5th: eight prizes of €60,000
- Pedrea: 1,794 prizes of €1,000
- Numbers before and after 1st prize: two prizes of €20,000
- Numbers before and after 2nd prize: two prizes of €12,500
- Numbers before and after 3rd prize: two prizes of €9,600
- Numbers with the same first three digits as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize: 297of €1,000
- Numbers with the same first three digits as the 4th prize: 198 of €1,000
- Numbers with the same two last digits as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize: 297 of €1,000
- Reintegro: 9,999 of €200
And what would you do with the prize money if your lottery number turned out to be a winning ticket for El Gordo? Every year the Spanish lottery unites many people under the same Christmas mood of sharing the lottery tickets. For more information, contact us or simply leave us your Facebook or Twitter account or leave us a contact email address. All rights reserved.
At the beginning the draw involved only boys from San Ildefonso
Final Thoughts
The El Gordo Spanish Christmas Lottery yields an exciting platform of opportunities for millions from around the world. Sure, it’s only played once a year, but this has added to the excitement of the draw, especially with the winning values on offer. The fact that much of the profits go to an orphanage is simply another major plus point as it gives the sense of giving back around the festive season, which is only one of the many reasons the majority of Spanish adults play the Spanish Christmas Lottery.
Many El Gordo lottery players tend to play no other lotteries as the odds of winning are too high and the tickets don’t offer as many winning opportunities. As mentioned, the El Gordo lottery includes some of the highest odds of winning, which might not include the jackpot, but since 17 winning opportunities are available, it naturally increases the opportunity to win a prize equal to or higher than the ticket value.
The online industry has increased the sales of the Spanish Lottery drastically, allowing millions from around the world to participate in the annual draw. This increases the number of ticket sales by large amounts, allowing more series to be added and profit to increase even more. In years to come, the jackpot amounts are expected to real new highs, breaking records along the way and giving even more players a special Christmas gift.
Spanish El Gordo Lottery FAQ
Since the Spanish lottery is only available once a year, there are millions from around the world who aren’t sure about how it works. Therefore, we provide a full FAQ section to provide answers to the questions you make have.
Q: Do I have to be Spanish to Play El Gordo Lottery?
A: No, it doesn’t matter where you’re from. The online system allows you to buy tickets as if you were in Spain and the winnings are all yours. The lottery adds your winnings to your online account, which you can then withdraw via a financial method of your choice.
Q: Are Spanish Christmas Lottery Winnings Taxable?
A: Any winning below the value of €2,500 isn’t taxable. However, winnings valued above this amount are subject to 20% tax. These tax values are automatically subtracted before any winnings reach your account. Therefore, any payouts in your online lottery account will be tax-free.
Q: How Many Spanish Christmas Lottery Tickets Can I Buy?
A: No, you can buy as many tickets as you’d like. It’s also possible to purchase tickets from multiple series. However, ensure you don’t buy the same numbers when shopping from multiple copies. Unless of course, you’re convinced that will be the winning numbers and you’d like to further enhance your payouts.
Q: Can I Play with El Gordo online from the UK?
A: Yes, the El Gordo lottery can be played almost anywhere in the world and with any currency. Simply choose the preferred currency in your online account and the prizes will automatically adjust based on the current exchange rate. The same occurs with your winnings that appear in Pound in your account but add up to the same value in Euros at the time of payment.
Q: How to choose the website if you want to buy lottery tickets?
A: As we mentioned in the article you should be careful with the websites providing such service. Please, pay attention to their privacy policy and the terms of use. You may also track how long the website operates. If you are not from Spain, you should be even more careful, because there are many sites named ‘lottery office’ that does not actually provide the service. You may consult our top 10 websites list as a recommendation or simply contact us.
Q: What are the odds of winning El Gordo?
A: The odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 139,838,160, with twelve other ways to be a winner of smaller amounts.
Q: Are there any regulations?
A: Except for taxation there are 2 important rules as well
- Tickets may be bought by those 18 or older.
- Prize winners must claim their money as soon as possible after the draw because it will expire in 90 days if no one comes around.