Thousands of Spaniards including humble restaurant workers and care home residents celebrated wins in the world's biggest lottery draw on Monday, scooping up shares in over 2.2 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in prizes doled out across the country.
El Gordo, or "the Fat One", is the top award millions vie for every year in the traditional Christmas lottery, which had Spaniards on tenterhooks for four hours as the ceremonial draw took longer than usual to throw up the big prizes.
The Gordo pays out 400,000 euros for every 20 euros spent on a number and this year's jackpot was widely distributed. There were winners from the capital Madrid to southerly Murcia, flocking to local lottery outlets or bars where they had bought their tickets to celebrate their good fortune.
Spain's Christmas lottery has been running for just over 200 years and remains a major fixture of the festive season. Sales had dropped off in recent years as the country went through a deep economic crisis, leaving over 5 million people, or nearly one in four workers, out of a job.
But this year, coinciding with Spain's recovery from recession, ticket sales were up for the first time since 2008. The taxman now takes a slice of the winnings - 20 percent from prizes above 2,500 euros.
The build-up to the yearly Gordo has added to the prize's fame. Superstitious players can queue for hours to buy tickets from the "luckiest" vendors, where the jackpot has hit before.
Companies, sports associations, local shops and bars also order series of ticket numbers for staff, which are then swapped and shared among relatives and colleagues trying to maximize their chances of getting a top prize.
Workers from Madrid's central wax museum were among the big winners on Monday, while staff from a neighboring restaurant also got lucky.
"The first thing I'm going to do is go to Paraguay to see my family. I haven't been for years," Madrid-based Gonzalo Lovera, a caretaker who won 1.6 million euros, told state television.
The fat one. We could learn from this one as I have written before.
WOW! El Gordo, the world's biggest lottery raffle occurred , scooping up shares in over 2.2 billion euros (US$2.7 billion) in prizes doled out across Spain! And who knows, maybe some foreign visitors during raffle sales period won a couple million too!
A very merry Christmas and new year/life to you major El Gordo raffle winners! Wish I could have played and won.
This is my idea for a "national lottery" like El Gordo in Spain ... something similiar in this country ... maybe tickets costing $2 ... $2.50 or $5 ... however all prizes won would be tax free from federal tax.
Tickets would be on sale all year and could be bought at any Post Office ... 50% of every ticket sold would go to the federal government for taxes and expenses and 50% would be prize money in the pot for a whole year. Every December the US would have this one big tax free drawing ... they have already collected the taxes along the way as tickets were sold ... so the Feds have their money up front as the year progresses ... I can see a big jackpot by December.
Seems simple enough.
I'm curious about the payout ratio for every Dollar/Euro spent. Does anybody know? Otherwise I think the game is wonderful. Lots of winners just before Christmas (are we allowed to say Christmas anymore? Hahaha idgaf). It would be nice if MUSL Would offer such a raffle. No growing jackpot b.s. or weekly draws. Just one draw around Christmas and boom! Plenty of winners nationwide.
Well they are doing something right in Spain ... they have a lottery that has lasted over 200 years and we have Monopoly Millionaire that lasted two months and a few days.
We can probably learn something from the beautiful people of Spain !
May the US could take a few pointers from this lottery. Since this lottery has lasted 200 years. They're doing something right.
They would never allow this here unless they can make millions in profit.
He ganado 60,000€ por un décimo del Gordo de Navidad... Yo vivo cerca de la calle Zurbano, que es la administración que vendió el Gordo, cachisss!!! por poco compro un décimo del primer premio.
Y en enero hay un segundo sorteo llamado "El Niño", jejejejeje
As have been saying monopoly millionaire club can learn from success and go big to monopoly Billionaire club or i be spending my next christmas in spain.
This very popular lottery changes many lives for the better, every year, in Spain and elsewhere. If Spain can do $2B, the good ol' U.S. of A, can do $20B easily, if we can only put our differences aside just for a second.
Did I hear correctly that these tickets cost equivalent to $25.00 each? Too expensive for my taste if we had something similar here in the USA.
Such a Christmas lottery would be very popular in the US. States lotteries should organize a similar lottery in the US. It would appeal to all, regular lottery players and people who don't normally play but would enjoy the fun. It would also raise additional revenue for the states; which is the point of state lotteries.
The US lotteries could tailor it to suit US players. The point is a Christmas lottery would be very popular with players and generate additional revenue for the states, which is the point of the lotteries.
Yes, the States would make millions, which is the point of state lotteries. This is what I like about lotteries, they raise revenue for the common good.
Speaking of "too expensive for your taste, that's 1/10th of a ticket because each ticket costs 200 Euros or $244.
El Gordo works very differently than what most of us are familiar with. For illustration, there is a set of numbers from 00000 to 99999 this gives 100000 shares & each number 100000 of them... 00000 00001 22345 23456... thru 99999 costs say $250 each so the entire series (pool) of numbers costs $250 X $100000 $25 million. They can also do say for eg. 10 sets of shares. There are vendors and those vendors sell the shares @ $250 each.............. a "decimo" a tenth is $25, so let's say the number pulled is 12345 and you have the 12345 bang you have El gordo, but wait if you have 52345 you have another fat one or if you have 62345 another fat one, or 11345 that is a winner........
from wiki:
The Spanish Christmas Lottery is based on tickets (billetes) which have 5-digit numbers, just like the regular drawing of the Spanish national lottery. Due to the enormous popularity of the game, each ticket is printed multiple times, in several so-called series. A unique 5-digit number is printed on each ticket and on the subsequent series of that ticket. For example, the ticket with the number 00001 is printed multiple times under different series numbers. Each ticket costs €200. Because this may be too expensive, the tickets are usually sold as tenths (called décimos). The price of a décimo is €20 and the payout is 10% of the published prize.
Serie - Each billete is printed up many times as with different serie numbers.
Billete - €200 each - An entire ticket of a 5-digit number, which consists of 10 décimos (tenths of a ticket).
Décimo - €20 each - One tenth of a billete. Most people purchase décimos.
On a private basis, or through associations and other organizations, it is also possible to buy or be given even smaller portions of one ticket, called "participations". Many organizations buy tickets and divide them up and sell them as participations to their customers or employees. Usually, the price of those portions is incremented by a supplement that is paid as a donation to the intermediary organization. Participations are made by writing the number and the amount paid, and signing it as proof of participation. If the ticket is a winner, anyone holding a participation will be entitled to the corresponding amount, depending on the amount they paid.
Most Spanish people hold at least a small portion of a lottery ticket in the Christmas Lottery each year, even if they do not gamble during the rest of the year. This includes tickets exchanged with family and acquaintances, or participations sold by one's employer.
In 2013 there are 160 series of 100,000 billetes (from 00000 to 99999) at €200 each. If all of the tickets were sold, ticket sales would be €3.2 billion, and prize payout would be of €2.24 billion (70% of ticket sales). For a single serie the prize structure is the following:[1]
Quantity
Prize
Description
Total
1
€4,000,000
El Gordo (First Prize)
€4,000,000
1
€1,250,000
Second Prize
€1,250,000
1
€500,000
Third Prize
€500,000
2
€200,000
Fourth Prizes
€400,000
8
€60,000
Fifth Prizes
€480,000
1,794
€1,000
La Pedrea
€1,794,000
2
€20,000
For the two numbers before and after the First Prize (approximations)
€40,000
2
€12,500
For the two numbers before and after the Second Prize (approximations)
€25,000
2
€9,600
For the two numbers before and after the Third Prize (approximations)
€19,200
99
€1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of the First Prize
€99,000
99
€1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of the Second Prize
€99,000
99
€1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of the Third Prize
€99,000
198
€1,000
For the 99 numbers with the same first three digits of each of the Fourth Prizes
€198,000
999
€1,000
For the 999 numbers with the same two last digits as the First Prize
€999,000
999
€1,000
For the 999 numbers with the same two last digits as the Second Prize
€999,000
999
€1,000
For the 999 numbers with the same two last digits as the Third Prize
€999,000
9,999
€200
For the 9,999 numbers with the same last digit as the First Prize (refund)
€1,999,800
Total per serie
€14,000,000
Total for the 160 series
€2,240,000,000
In 2012 the €4,000,000 of El Gordo were for the number 76058. The numbers 76057 and 76059 obtained the corresponding €20,000 approximation prizes. Additionally, all numbers between 76000 and 76099 (excluding El Gordo but including approximations) obtained the €1,000 prize for the numbers with the same first three digits of El Gordo. All numbers ending in "58" (excluding El Gordo) obtained €1,000, and all numbers ending in "8" (excluding El Gordo) obtained a refund of €200.
The exact quantity of tickets and series, and their prices, may be different each year. For example, in 2004, there were 66,000 different numbers in 195 series. In 2005, there were 85,000 numbers in 170 series, whereas in 2006 the number of series was increased to 180. Since 2011 the are 100,000 different numbers in 180 series. Distribution of prizes can change also, as in 2002 with the introduction of the Euro, or in 2011, when El Gordo increased from €3,000,000 to €4,000,000, the Second Prize increased from €1,000,000 to €1,250,000, the Fifth Prizes increased from €50,000 to €60,000, and 20 more pedreas of €1,000 were added.[2] In 2013 the number of series has been reduced from 180 to 160 to adjust to the expected demand.
The draw
Since December 18, 1812, the Christmas Lottery drawings are held according to exactly the same procedure each year. In the past it took place in the Lotería Nacional hall of Madrid, while in 2010 and 2011 it was celebrated in the Palacio Municipal de Congresos de Madrid, and in 2012 in Teatro Real in Madrid. Pupils of the San Ildefonso school (formerly reserved for orphans of public servants) draw the numbers and corresponding prizes, singing the results aloud in front of the public. Until 1984 only boys from San Ildefonso participated in the drawing; that year Mónica Rodríguez became the first girl to sing the results, including a fourth prize of 25 million Spanish pesetas.[3] It is a custom that the winners donate some of the money to the San Ildefonso school. The public attending the event may be dressed in lottery-related extravagant clothing and hats.[4] The state-run Televisión Española and Radio Nacional de España, and other media outlets, broadcast the entire draw, which currently takes place on December 22 each year.
Two spherical vessels are used. The big one contains 100,000 small wooden balls, each with a unique 5-digit number on it, from 00000 to 99999. The small vessel contains 1,807 small wooden balls, each one with a prize in Euros on it:
1 ball for the first prize, called el Gordo.
1 ball for the second prize.
1 ball for the third prize.
2 balls for the fourth prizes.
8 balls for the fifth prizes.
1,794 balls for the small prizes, called la Pedrea, literally "the pebble-avalanche" or "stoning".
Inscriptions on the wooden balls are nowadays made with a laser, to avoid any difference in weight between them. They weigh 3 g and have a diameter of 18.8 mm.[5] Before being thrown into the vessels, the numbers are shown to the public for anyone to check that the balls with their numbers are not missing.
As the drawing goes on, a single ball is extracted from each of the revolving spheres at the same time. One child sings the winning number, the other child sings the corresponding prize. This is repeated until all the prize-balls are connected to a number. Due to the sheer number of prizes, this procedure takes several hours. The children work in about eight to nine shifts, equal to the number of frames of numbers to be drawn.[6][7][8][9][10]
The balls have holes on them so they would be slotted into wires in frames for later presentation. When a major prize is drawn, both children repeat their singing multiple times, and show the balls to a committee, and then to a fixed camera with two Phillips screwdriver heads mounted at the front, all before being inserted into a frame as the others. Although the drawing is by chance, the children who draw the higher prizes are applauded. Apart from the prizes drawn from the vessel, some prizes are calculated from the winning numbers (view the table with prizes above).
The two-vessels system was the traditional one in Spanish lottery, but now it is only used in the Christmas Lottery. The rest of the weekly and extraordinary draws during the year use five vessels with ten balls each (numbered 0 to 9), from where the five digits of the winning numbers are drawn.
The odds of just evening out the costs are of 10% (by matching the final digit), while chances of winning more money are about 5.3%. The prize structure makes it easier to win some money compared to other lotteries, and it is common saying that the prizes of the Christmas Lottery are well distributed all around Spain. Chances of winning El Gordo are 1 in 100,000, that is 0.001%, while chances of winning the top prize of EuroMillions are 1 in 116,531,800 or 0.0000000086%.
Non-winners will make the commonplace comment that "it's health that really matters". Those who just get their money back will often re-invest the prize in a ticket for Sorteo de El Niño, the second most important draw, held before the feast of Epiphany of Jesus on January 6.
El Gordo
The climax of the drawing is the moment when El Gordo is drawn.[11] Lottery outlets usually only sell tickets for one or two numbers, so the winners of the largest prizes often live in the same town or area or work for the same company. In 2011, El Gordo was sold entirely in Grañén, Huesca, a town with about 2,000 people.[11] In 2010, €414 million from the first prize were sold in Barcelona, and the rest of the €585 million of El Gordo was distributed between Madrid, Tenerife, Alicante, Palencia, Zaragoza, Cáceres, and Guipúzcoa.[12] In 2006, the winning number was sold in eight different lottery outlets across Spain, while the second prize number (€100,000 per décimo) was only ever sold from a kiosk on the Puerta del Sol in central Madrid. In 2005, the winning number was sold in the town of Vic in Catalonia (population 37,825), whose inhabitants shared about €500 million (€300,000 per winning décimo).
As a misconception in many non-Spanish speaking countries[where?][citation needed], it is often assumed that the term El Gordo is specific for the Christmas Lottery; some even think that El Gordo is in fact the name of the lottery. However, the real meaning of El Gordo is simply "the first prize" (literally "the fat one" or more accurately "the big one"); other lotteries have their Gordo as well. To add to the confusion, there is a relatively new weekly Spanish lottery game called El Gordo de la Primitiva, which has nothing in common with the Christmas lottery, except the fact that it is organized by the Spanish public lottery entity Loterías y Apuestas del Estado.
Congratulations to all the winners