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Spanish Christmas Lottery: What is El Gordo and why is it such a big deal?

Spain’s El Gordo lottery, which is drawn on December 22 each year, is famous for giving out the most cash prizes per ticket purchased in the world

Spain’s Christmas Lottery, known in Spanish as El Gordo, literally means “the Fat One” and with good reason, considering it’s one of the biggest lotteries in the world handing out billions of euros in cash prizes every year.

El Gordo is a huge deal in Spain with millions of hopefuls queuing at lottery booths to be in with a chance to hit the big jackpot. According to the State Lottery Association, the average Spaniard spends almost 70 euros on the lottery every year.

In fact, the real appeal of El Gordo is the concept of sharing the winnings with family and friends. You see, each ticket is divided into 10 parts or ‘décimos’, which cost 20 euros each. So, if the top prize is 4 million euros, winners actually get a tenth of that because a full lottery ticket actually costs 200 euros.

Every décimo on the ticket has an identical five-digit number, and that number can be repeated dozens of times across several full tickets. As such, the prize is divided between everyone who shares that same number.

However, you can also buy a portion of a full ticket, known as participaciones, in bars, cafes and other businesses, although you may pay up to 5 euros more.

So, how long has the lottery been a Christmas tradition in Spain?

The Spanish Government set up the first Christmas lottery in Cádiz in 1812, not to spread festive cheer, but to raise funds for Spanish troops battling against Napoleon’s armies.

From humble roots, with the top prize the equivalent of around 50 euros today, the lottery has become one of Spain’s biggest traditions with not only a multi-million euro top prize, but hundreds of smaller prizes, too.

How exactly does the Spanish Christmas Lottery work?

As mentioned, El Gordo’s complex rules allow for several purchases of the same lottery number. The tickets, or ‘billetes’, range in number from #00000 to #99999, which means there are only 100,000 tickets, so each one is printed lots of times, creating a ‘serie’ (series).

There are two televised draws on December 22 every year that determine the outcome of the Christmas Lottery. In one of them, there are 100,000 balls with the numbers that are printed on the tickets; in the other there are 1,807 balls with all the prizes to be distributed.

The probability that the ball with the 4 million euros and the one with the number on your ticket come out at the same time is 0.00001%, i.e. one in 100,000. The chances of buying the jackpot winning number are slim, but although the probability is low, it is considerably higher than that of other draws such as the Quiniela (0.000007%) or the Euromillions (0.0000008%). On average, around 86,000 people win anything from 20 euros upwards.

How to play El Gordo Cristmas Lottery

Christmas Lottery tickets can be purchased until late in the afternoon on December 21 at Loterías y Apuestas del Estado booths and shops, while you can also buy El Gordo lottery tickets online up until 10pm on the same day from the official Spanish Lottery website.

The Christmas Lottery draw is held in Madrid from 9am on December 22 and can be followed live on television on RTVE’s TV channel La 1. They use school children from the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Madrid to announce – well sing, actually – the numbers that come out of the drums, along with the now legendary tune of “miiiiiiiil euuuurooos”. This chant becomes a kind of background music that is only broken when one of the jackpots comes up with one of the big prizes.

Admittedly, El Gordo is more complicated than other lotteries, but it’s not necessarily about winning. It’s about taking part, sharing and enjoying the tradition with others. Good luck!

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