Winners share $3 billion in Spain's El Gordo lottery

Comment #20

eddessaknight — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:12:59 GMT

Mario, et al-

I peronally went online with the US Dept of State and here is the unbelivable but direct confirmation about Spanish residency requirements for El Gordo:

In order to enter and win El Gordo, you must be a resident of Spain and purchase your ticket within the country. Keep in mind YOU CANNOT WIN IF YOU DID NOT BUY A TICKET! You must purchase your entry to the drawing in Spain in order to win. It is against U.S. federal law to play a foreign lottery through the mail or over the

Comment #19

Mario38 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:04:11 GMT

Thanks for the response but I find it very confusing. He says he has nothing to send but then goes on to say that it is in Spanish and we would not be able to understand it. Whatever it is. Sound like he does have something to send. A lot of people in North America can speak, read and write Spanish. It is a very popular language.

He goes on to say that you must be a resident of Spain to play. But for how long? Can one live in Spain for 1 year and then buy a ticket? How about 3 months. How abo... [ More ]

Comment #18

diamondpalace — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:58:00 GMT

This makes America look bad in lottery play. We need to have something like this, it would deffinately help out a lot of people during this economy time.

Comment #17

eddessaknight — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 23:31:42 GMT

Hi Mario, et al-

Here is the reply I recievd directly from Valencia, Spain on the famous El Gordo

I don't have anything to send you. The fact is it is in Spanish and they would not be able to understand it anyways. This info comes from Spanish natives. If your friends want to think their leg is being pulled let them. Spain is a very closed and not friendly to foreigner society. Basically they make everything as hard as possible for non-Spaniards all the time. Frankly, I don't like it ve... [ More ]

Comment #16

Mario38 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:58:53 GMT

Where is the split between high prizes and low prizes for the only Spanish winners rule. Can your friend scan a ticket with the rules and post or email. Thanks.

Comment #15

eddessaknight — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:54:33 GMT

Hi Mario, et al-

Re: El Gordo,

My source for this information is a trusted correspondent in Valencia, Spain who participates in this lottery, Unless I read otherwise I will accept his ticket reading as vaild.

Are you in Spain

Understand there is another El Gordo on or about Epihany January 6th.

Perhaps some Spanish LB memeber can kindly report directly on this matter.

Good Luck,

EddessaKnight

Comment #14

Mario38 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:08:22 GMT

Have you seen the fine print? Where is that information available?

Thanks

Comment #13

eddessaknight — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:59:50 GMT

Hi All,

Unless you are a Spanish citizen you cannot collect large El Gordo prizes but you can win the other prizes. It's in the small print.

Don't you find it intriguing how often advertised offers are made in large bold print but qualifying or consumer guarantee conditions are in very small print ???

Happy New Year Wishes,

EddessaKnight

Comment #12

time*treat — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:35:59 GMT

Until reading this story, I always thought this was a 'scam' lottery.

Maybe it's just scammers using the name.

Comment #11

eddessaknight — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 21:05:42 GMT

WOW

Just recieved word, ostensibly on good authority from Velencia, that you have to be Spanish Born to claim a win on the big prize

What about foriegn ticket buyers etc?

Does that sound right???

Merry Christmas Happy New Year all-

EddessaKnight

Comment #10

Amazing Grace — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:46:44 GMT

what are the odds of this happening??? :(

The 1,950 tickets with the top prize number were sold across seven of Spain's 52 provinces

In the central town of Soria, Ricardo Jimenez's bar sold all 1,950 of the third prize tickets, spreading some 97 million (US$135 million) among customers, family and friends.

Comment #9

Set4life — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:30:50 GMT

That must feel great, congrats to the winners

Comment #8

sondra — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:23:13 GMT

sound good to me , sondra

Comment #7

BaristaExpress — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:16:01 GMT

Yeah it would be nice to have (a national lottery) something like that here in the United States! But our Government would have to tax it like it does the other lotteries! 25% off the top to Uncle Sam before you get your winnings and then at the end of the year pay up some more , of course it depends on your year end adjusted gross taxable income!

This is for the Dreamers out there And if Uncle Sam makes an allowance for the national lottery (not taxing it), he will have to make the same allo... [ More ]

Comment #6

grengrad — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:59:21 GMT

$175 Billion could pay 1,750,000 people $100,000 each to put towards a house....

Comment #5

ThatScaryChick — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:07:50 GMT

Very neat story! 3 billion dollars is a lot of money to give away.

Comment #4

justxploring — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:32:12 GMT

Oops! I meant $175 billion

Comment #3

Bradly_60 — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:02:08 GMT

This is a great game. I wish we here in the US had something like this. 70% payout and they sell almost $4B in tickets. Just insane!

Brad

Comment #2

justxploring — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:05:49 GMT

Great story! Now, speaking of national lotteries, wouldn't it be nice if one of the conditions of the bail out was for the rescued banks to give every taxpayer a lottery ticket? Even with thousands of prizes and a 50% payout, they'd still have $175 million unaccounted for, but at least we'd know where half of the money went

Comment #1

grengrad — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:10:50 GMT

Wow, what an awesome lottery, and 70% payout

Winners share $3 billion in Spain's El Gordo lottery

Lottery Post — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:06:12 GMT

Economic woes eased for thousands in Spain on Monday as the Christmas lottery billed among the world's richest dished out some 2.32 billion (US$3.23 billion) in prizes.

The top prize of the lottery dubbed El Gordo (The Fat One) went to holders of tickets bearing the number 32365 which appears on 1,950 tickets, each winning 300,000 (US$418,000). Thousands of others cashed in on runner-up prizes.

The top number was sung out at just after noon Monday by pupils of Madrid's Saint Ildefonso Scho... [ More ]