ElGordo Lottery

What is the El Gordo de Navidad?
El Gordo de Navidad is the Spanish Christmas lottery. It takes place on the 22nd December every year and is one of the largest and richest lotteries in the world with a prize pool in excess of €2 billion!

How did it originate?
It seems as though Spain has always had a lottery of some sort or another, even as far back as King Carlos III in 1763.
The first ‘Christmas edition’ of the lottery was in 1812, with actual title, Sorteo de Navidad first used in 1892.
When looking at the odds any other lotto game, we are normally confronted with the odds stacked against you. With the El Gordo Christmas lottery, the odds of winning money is as low as one in three!

It’s therefore no surprise that this lotto game has continued to thrive since its inception during the Spanish War of Independence. The game was introduced to increase state income.
Other lotteries had existed in the country since 1763, when King Carlos III began using them to finance Spain’s side in the Napoleonic War, among other ventures. It was he who first began the tradition of having orphan boys draw the winning numbers.
Every year on the 22nd of December, children from the San Ildefonso School (once an orphanage for boys) sing a three-hour Gregorian chant in which they select and sing out the numbers.
Two separate gold spherical vessels are used in the draw, containing thousands of tiny wooden balls. The bigger vessel contains lottery balls with 5 digit numbers that are printed on each of the lottery tickets.

The smaller vessel also contains thousands of lottery balls each with a prize amount.
A 5 digit numbered ball gets drawn first, and then followed by a prize ball, which determines the prize amount for those numbers.
For up to five hours national radio and television broadcast the draw live and the whole country is focused on it as every television tunes in.

Who can play El Gordo de Navidad?
Anyone can play El Gordo de Navidad. As long as you have an internet connection and a few quid to buy a ticket, you can be part of the lotto action.
For those that have had the pleasure to travel to Spain and you found yourself there on December 22nd, you know just how exciting the El Gordo de Navidad really is.

When can I play El Gordo de Navidad?
El Gordo de Navidad tickets go on sale at least six months before the time. For those wishing to play the El Gordo de Navidad online, keep a look out on a lottery concierge site for this extremely popular and lucrative opportunity.
By registering on any of these lottery websites, you should also receive a notification as soon as El Gordo de Navidad tickets go on sale.

El Gordo de Navidad Prize Structure

The highest El Gordo de Navidad prize available is €4 million, with an amazing 1:100,000 chances of winning the top prize! That’s almost 1,160 times better than the odds of winning the EuroMillions jackpot!
If a player owns all ten shares of a 1st prize winning ticket they will win the €4 million jackpot prize.
Incredibly, the amazing lotto game will award a total of €640 million in jackpot prizes to the 160 tickets with the winning raffle code.

The Biggest Wins
As many El Gordo de Navidad players buy tickets from the same batch, prize winners will come in large batches, from either the same town, area or company.
In Vic, Catalonia, population 37,825, residents in this small town shared in about €500 million in prizes, which turns out to approximately €300,000 per winning share.

Distribution of Revenue
Over and above the lucky winners, more than $80 million of the money collected goes to charities. The fact that the cost to purchase an El Gordo de Navidad ticket is a lot more expensive than that of an ordinary lotto ticket, increases the prize-fund and in turn the prizes won by participants. It’s a common practice in Spain for groups of friends, neighbours and co-workers all over the country, to pool together and buy tickets for a chance at one of the millions of prizes and a lump sum, tax-free payment up to about $4.3 million for the top prize.

How to play El Gordo de Navidad
The El Gordo de Navidad draw works a lot differently to that of other traditional lotteries. Players first need to understand the tickets, which work as follows:
Serie
Each ticket number is available 10 times. This means that 10 lots of tickets with the same number will be printed. This is called a “serie”.
Billette
Each of those 10 “series” forms one “whole” ticket and is called a “billette”.

Decimo’s
Each “billette” is divided into 10 smaller tickets called “decimos.”
Buying a whole ticket (billette) can prove a tad too expensive for most people, so purchasing a ‘decimo’ is more popular. Ad
Each “billette” is divided into 10 smaller tickets called “decimos.”
Players don’t choose their own numbers when purchasing tickets. Instead they purchase a ticket that already has a pre-printed number on it. There are also series of tickets with the same numbers on.

You can buy El Gordo de Navidad tickets by playing online as well, giving yourself the chance to win a portion of a huge prize pool whether you live in Spain or not.
Online El Gordo de Navidad players can select from a range of different tickets. These all have different number combinations. All you have to do is select the ones you like to buy shares (décimos) of and pay for them using the best payment method available online for your particular region.
Once you have purchased your ticket, you will receive a unique transaction ID. After that, all you have to do is wait for the draw to take place on the 22nd of December.
If your ticket is drawn and you become an El Gordo de Navidad winner, you will receive a results mailer informing you of the winning numbers and any matches you may have had.
If you’re interested in having a go at winning your share of the world’s biggest lottery, buy El Gordo de Navidad tickets online.