19 December, 2013

By VIVA Team

Have you got your ticket?

At Christmas time in Spain, a rather chubby legend descends upon the country bearing gifts guaranteed to put a smile on thousands of faces. But forget about Santa – most Spaniards appear to get more excited by Spain’s Christmas lottery, better known as ‘elGordo’ (The Fat One).

Spaniards and the lottery are cosy bedfellows, and for good reason. Yes, the country has been beset by economic woes for the past few years, but even during the boom years millions of Spaniards would queue patiently at their local lottery stand to purchase a ticket for elGordo…

The tradition can be traced as far back as 1812 when the Spanish Lottery Organisation (Loterias y Apuestas del Estado) was first created. Fast-forward two centuries to 1993 when elGordo was added and Spain really went lotto loco.

Over the years there have been some incredible wins, with 2011’s top prize of €33,024,545 turning a few heads. In the same year a couple of housewives’ associations shared a €4 million prize, earning each individual in the syndicate a cool €40,000.

This year, the prize pool is estimated to reach up to €2,240,000,000 in prizes, to be split along the system’s rather arcane (to an outsider at least – ask a Spaniard to explain how it works) prize-sharing rules. The draw takes place on Sunday, December 22, runs for several hours, is covered by national TV and radio, and delivers the fascinating sight of schoolchildren from San Ildefonso school singing out the numbers as they are drawn.

Other interesting facts about elGordo abound, too: up to 75 per cent of Spaniards will have a flutter this year, with the chances of winning the top prize standing at a rather it-could-be-me 1 in 100,000. In contrast, odds on winning the top prize on the Euromillions hover around 1 in 116.5 million – approximately 0.0000000086%.

Last year, the average Spaniard spent €73 on the draw, which cashes more prizes than any other nationally recognised lottery in the world. And the best part is – you don’t even have to be a Spaniard to play! Although you may have to be rather au fait with the rules to figure out if you have won. But still, like they say… it’s the taking part that counts, isn’t it?

This year’s draw will take place on Sunday, December 22nd.