Fancy winning 400.000 euros? Participate in ‘El Gordo’, the Spanish Christmas lottery which gets everyone on the edge of their seat hoping this year will be the one. It’s one of Spain’s most iconic Christmas-time traditions so here is everything you need to know about it.
As we discussed in our latest episode, the lottery ‘ El Gordo’ dates back to 18th December of 1812. It was originally invented to earn funds for the war against Napoleon but has progressed to become one of the most celebrated events in Spain.
Nowadays the lottery lasts many hours and is streamed across all platforms, mainly TV and radio and is held at the Teatro Real de Madrid. It is also famous for its unusual delivery of the numbers, as the winning numbers and prizes are sung out by the children who attend San Ildefonso school in Madrid.
How and what do you win?
Each number is divided into ten tickets, and each ticket (a tenth) costs 20 euros. If you win the first prize ‘El Gordo’, each ticket is worth 400.000 euros. When the Gordo number is read out, there will be up to 10 people in the country who will have won 400.000 euros. In the hypothetical case of someone purchasing all ten tickets of that number, they could win up to 4 million euros.
There is also a second prize, with each tenth worth 125.000 euros, a third prize worth 50.000 euros, two fourth prizes worth 20.000 euros, 8 fifth prizes worth 6.000 euros and finally many small prizes called the pedrea, all worth 100 euros (many of these are won).
There has been one registered case in 2011 of someone winning the whopping 4 million. It is very typical that company’s, friend groups and family’s buy a whole number (all 10 tickets with that number) and divide it between them to increase the chances of winning.
Although chances are at a 0,001% of winning ‘El Gordo’, don’t be disheartened, someone has to win it! Even if it’s not you who wins it, or your hairdresser, you hope it is your local lottery shop that gave out the winning prize in your town. Overall, it is a really exciting day in Spain, between the run up to Christmas and the possibility of a life-changing win but mostly it creates a fun and united atmosphere filled with sighs, laughs, children on the radio and hopefully, screams of joy.
Watch us discuss the history of El Gordo on the sofa on our latest episode of Good Morning Spain! We hope you enjoy – and good luck!
