Oleg Khalimov's blog about Spain. Spanish Christmas lottery Participation in the game, receiving winnings

Exactly 200 years ago – in 1811 year, Cortes of Cadiz, together with the Spanish government of that time, held the first draw. At that time, Spain was waging a war of independence and the treasury needed additional funds, which she wanted to receive, bypassing the already empty pockets of taxpayers. The very first "Kush" in the history of the Spanish national lottery hit lucky number 03604. Then the ticket cost 40 rials, and main win- 8 thousand, so-called “hard pesos.”

New Year's Lotteryin Spain - Loteria de Navidad.

Millions of people, both in the country and abroad, since you can buy a ticket via the Internet anywhere in the world, are trying to calculate the lucky combination of numbers in anticipation of the lottery draw in Spain. Everything counts, from heads to football matches, dates happy events or global disasters, to the birthdays of sports and pop idols, as well as to the dates of their concerts, which I managed to attend.

70% goes to the prize fund. 30% goes to salaries for distributors. By the way, lottery draws bring phenomenal amounts to the state treasury! The proceeds finance major projects and also make donations. Therefore, at one time there was a monopoly in Spain. Today, almost all of the most popular lotteries in Spain operate under government auspices and are available to people from all corners of the globe.

How does the drawing ceremony take place?

The drawing ceremony itself has hardly changed since the 18th century. Of course, apart from technical innovations, the show was first broadcast on radio and then on television. There are small bone balls in two huge balls. In one - with the winning amount, in the other - with ticket numbers.

The drawing takes place in live Spanish state television. At this moment, almost the entire country freezes in front of their TV screens, listening to chants in performed by orphans from the San Ildefonso school, pronouncing the numbers dropped from the drum - the children take out the bones and chant, to the tune of church psalms - this is also a tribute to tradition - they announce the numbers.

Main prizes in the lotteryELGordoDeNavidad.

  • 1st prize - 3,000,000 € 195 (for a series of 10 parts)
  • 2nd prize – 1,000,000 €
  • 3rd prize – €500,000
  • 4th prize – 200,000 €
  • 5th prize – 50,000 €
  • 6th prize – 1,000 €

Fatty kush - El Gordo.

What are the chances of winning the lotteryELGordoDeNavidad?

The Spanish National Christmas Lottery EL Gordo De Navidad works differently than most lotteries in the world. In traditional lotteries, a prize appears on the number printed on the ticket, and the owner of this ticket alone receives this prize.

In the Spanish national state lottery, things work a little differently:

Exist 85,000 different numbers, which make up one full ticket lotteries. Each ticket is available in 195 episodes. Each of the 195 series of the same number is awarded a prize fund of € 3,000,000. Each lottery ticket in the series consists of ten parts (decimos). Therefore, when purchasing lottery tickets, you have the choice of buying one part (decimo), several or all ten parts of the lottery ticket. If you buy only one part of a ticket, and someone else buys the other nine parts of the same lottery ticket, then you split the prize with them in a ratio of 1/9.

How to buy an EL Gordo De Navidad lottery ticket?

The Spanish Ministry of Finance informs that lottery tickets national state lottery EL Gordo - "El Gordo" can be purchased from licensed agents in Spain who distribute tickets for the Spanish national lotteries - LOTERIAS Y APUESTAS DEl ESTADO. http://www.loteriasyapuestas.es

Once you have placed an order to purchase a lottery ticket, the agent will purchase the lottery tickets on your behalf from a licensed agent in Spain. To the address you specified during registration Email notification of the ticket number and the date of the lottery draw is sent.

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Día de la Hispanidad - National Day of Spain.

"ElGordo de Navidad" is a very popular lottery from Spain. This lottery is also known as "Loteria de Navidad" or the Spanish Christmas lottery. Because "El Gordo de Navidad" happens every year during the Christmas holidays. It is estimated that almost 98% of adults in Spain take part in this massive lottery. Even if they don't usually play any other lottery during the year. It has become a Christmas tradition in Spain to buy at least one most of the entire coupon.

"El Gordo de Navidad" is also one of the oldest lotteries in the world, which began operations over 200 years ago! The Spanish Christmas lottery began in 1812. Since then, "elGordo de Navidad" has been held every December. (Even during the Spanish Civil War)

There are many variants of the elGordo lottery that are currently played in Spain. And "El Gordo de Navidad" is a unique variation of the Spanish lottery elGordo.

The Spanish Christmas Lottery produces the biggest prize pools of any lottery in the world! For example, the 2016 prize fund is estimated at almost 2.5 billion euros! "ElGordo de Navidad" has become very popular all over the world, among many lottery players, because of this.

In addition, many foreign lotteries players are attracted to participate in "El Gordo de Navidad", due to the Excelent chances of winning in this Spanish lottery, when compared with many famous lotteries from all over the world. For example: it's over 1000 times easier to win Grand Prize in "El Gordo de Navidad" than the main prize in the European EuroMillions lottery. And the chances of winning a prize are 1:7.

Moreover, there are significant differences between how to play in the Spanish ElGordo de Navidad, compared to how to play in traditional lottery games such as: European EuroMillions, MegaMillions or Powerball from America. The Spanish Christmas lottery uses a completely different concept on how to play the lottery.

So, many foreigners and lottery players from abroad (outside Spain) are completely confused about how to play El Gordo de Navidad in Spain? What is different when participating in the Spanish Christmas lottery? We hope this article will help you understand: How to play "ElGordo de Navidad"? How to take part in the Spanish Christmas lottery online?

How to play "ElGordo de Navidad", the Spanish Christmas lottery?
What are the rules for playing El Gordo de Navidad?

ElGordo de Navidad, the Spanish Christmas lottery is played completely differently from regular lotteries. Where lottery players select 5 or 6 numbers from a pool of numbers.

Let's start with an explanation:

How is the El Gordo de Navidad lottery coupon different from the traditional one?

The entire lottery coupon is called: "Billete"

"Billete" divided into parts called 10 "Decimos" or "Fraccion" They can be purchased separately as part of a whole coupon.

Every year there are 100,000 coupons with 5-digit numbers printed on them, ranging from 00000 to 99999 in each set. Each set of coupons is printed multiple times in many different series. (called: "Series")

The image below will help you understand:

How are the coupons structured for "ElGordo de Navidad", the Spanish Christmas lottery?

There are a limited number of ElGordo lottery coupons on offer. When all coupons are sold, there are no more coupons available for sale. The number of printed sets changes every year. Because of this, the total number of "ElGordo de Navidad" coupons on offer differs each year.

For example, in 2016 there are 100,000 coupons printed in 165 sets.

100.000 Billetes* 165 sets => 16.5 million of " Billetes".
Since every " Billete"Divided into 10 parts ( Fraccion), This means that 165 million coupons are available for sale in 2016.

but in 2015 several sets were printed, namely 180 sets "Series"
in 2013 there were 100,000 " Billetes"Printed in sets of 160,
in 2012 there were 100,000 " Billetes"Printed in sets of 180,
in 2006 there were 85,000" Billetes"Printed in sets of 180,
in 2005, there were 85,000" Billetes"Printed in sets of 170,
in 2004 there were 66,000" Billetes"Printed in 195 sets.

How to buy coupons for "El Gordo de Navidad" to take part in the Spanish Christmas lottery?

The easiest way is to simply buy a whole block of "El Gordo de Navidad" tickets, one " Billete".

However, it is a very common practice among lottery players to buy a lot of " Decimos"From different blocks of coupons. This allows you to increase the chances of winning a prize, but at the expense of the size of the winnings. Because the more details from different lottery tickets, the more different numbers. If lucky winner really keep only one winning one" Decimo"And not the whole block, obviously the prize is divided by 10 and he will only receive 10% of the prize winnings.

Another common way to participate in the Spanish Christmas lottery - ElGordo is to create a group of players or syndicates, where all participants agree to split the winnings between total number people taking part in this type of scheme.

Some online services allow you to buy coupons for the Spanish Christmas lottery online.


How are winning numbers selected during a lottery draw?

The Spanish Christmas lottery draw usually lasts about 3 hours.

There are 100,000 small wooden balls in the first reel. Each of these balls had a 5-digit number printed on them using a special laser instead of paint. This is done in order to avoid any discrepancies in the mass of the balls.

The smaller reel contains 1,807 balls, each representing one prize available.

One ball is selected from each reel at a time. These two balls match each other, where one ball shows the size of the prize and the second the winning number.

The results are sung aloud by children from the San Ildefonso school. One child sings the five-digit number loudly, the other sings the prize.

What are the chances of winning the Spanish Christmas lottery "ElGordo de Navidad"?

The odds of winning the top prize in "ElGordo de Navidad" are 1 in 100,000. And the chances of winning a prize are 1:7.

This means that the famous Spanish lotto has one of better chances win among all the major lotteries from around the world. And, when it comes to winning the main prize, as well as other smaller prizes.

Even other prizes in the Spanish Christmas lottery are quite easy to win, for example:
The odds of winning the 2nd prize are 1 in 100,000
The odds of winning the 3rd prize are 1 in 100,000
The odds of winning the 4th prize are 1 in 50,000
The odds of winning the 5th prize are 1 in 12,500, these odds of winning are almost the same as the odds of winning the 6th or 7th prize in Euromillions, however the difference in payout is significant. around 1000 times more. The payout for winning the fifth prize in "elGordo de Navidad" is 60,000 euros, compared to the payout for winning the sixth or seventh prize in Euromillions of only about 60 euros.

(All information above applies only to the entire ticket, however in the case of one part of the ticket or more parts of the whole coupon, all the above figures must be corrected, depending on how many parts there are winning coupons.)

How to participate in "ElGordo de Navidad", the Spanish Christmas lottery online?

For everyone who would like to take part in this famous Spanish lottery, we would like to recommend two online services, namely: You can play with PlayHugeLottos or you can play with TheLotter.

Each of us has bought a lottery ticket at least once in our lives. Some people play constantly, while others, having lost once, immediately lose interest in the lottery. If you live in Spain, then you have probably noticed that literally everyone plays lotteries in Spain. The Christmas lottery draw is broadcast live on major television channels, and major lotteries are actively advertised on television and in the print press. If you are interested in buying a lottery ticket and don’t know where to buy a lottery in Spain, we present to your attention the official website of online lotteries in Spain Lotería de Anna.

Lotería de Anna has a government license to sell lottery tickets in Spain (license number 79690), including online. The company's office is located in the city of Anna, located in the province of Valencia, but the bulk of lottery tickets are sold through the company's website. How is Lotería de Anna different from other lottery sellers in Spain?


  • Big choice lottery tickets: Lotería Nacional, Lotería Social, La Primitiva, Bonoloto, El Gordo, Euromillones, La Quiniela, El Quinigol and others.
  • The opportunity to purchase a lottery ticket at any time of the day, while being anywhere in the world. The online service makes the process of buying a lottery ticket as convenient as possible.
  • High winning percentage. The Spaniards are very superstitious, so many people buy lottery tickets in those places where they have already won, and often luck smiles on the same buyer several times. Throughout the history of its existence, Loteria de Anna has more than once sold tickets that received first prizes in the most major lotteries: 5th Prize Christmas Lotto 2014, 3rd Prize Christmas Lotto 2012, 1st Prize Saturday Lotto 2005, 2nd Prize Saturday Lotto 1993, 1st Prize in the lottery played every Thursday, in 2001, etc.
  • Loteria de Anna it is the only official lottery retailer in Spain that offers the possibility of creating a personalized digital combination in major lotteries. Many people bet on the same numbers year after year, choosing dates of births, christenings, weddings, etc. important events, right up to the date of your favorite football team's Champions League victory. In addition, Lotería de Anna designs lottery tickets according to the client's design. Thus, for private buyers, it is possible to indicate a photograph of the buyer himself, his family members, friends, colleagues, etc. For companies put a logo, seal, business card, anagram, etc., so many companies give lottery tickets to their clients and thereby combine the lottery with advertising of their services.
  • Members of the Spanish royal family, as well as foreign politicians, buy lottery tickets at Loteria de Anna.
  • Lotteries in Spain are regulated by law, and purchasing a lottery ticket from a licensed seller guarantees your rights if you win.

If you want to try your luck, don't hesitate. Visit the site

El Gordo de Navidad (or Lotería de Navidad, "Christmas Lottery") is the most popular bingo lottery in Spain, with a draw on Christmas Eve. She is also known by the shortened name El Gordo ("The Fat Man"). The lottery prize fund is considered the largest in the world - it is 2.5 billion euros! The super prize, called El Gordo, is equal to 4 million euros. There are also several other prize categories.

Photo from website: abc.es

El Gordo de Navidad drawings are one of the main national traditions, a favorite pastime along with football. It is customary for the whole family and groups of friends to participate in this lottery, and in offices, employees buy tickets pooled together through lottery syndicates. On December 22, the whole country freezes in front of their televisions during the live broadcast of the drawing.

Spanish national lottery was organized more than two hundred years ago, in 1812. 6 years later, in 1818, Christmas pranks started, which were immediately loved by the population. During Civil War in Spain (1936-1939), when the country was split into two parts, each side released its own Christmas lottery. Now more than 80% of Spaniards buy El Gordo de Navidad tickets every year. There are queues at numerous lottery kiosks, everyone is in a hurry to buy a “lucky ticket”.

A special feature of El Gordo de Navidad is the selection of lucky winners. If in traditional bingo lotteries (such as Russian lotto and Housing Lottery) the tickets are pre-printed with numbers in random order, while in the Christmas El Gordo the 5-digit numbers of the tickets themselves are included in the draw. Several lottery tickets with the same number are printed, but in different series. Thus, more than one participant is vying for one prize. The process for determining the winners of El Gordo de Navidad remains unchanged long years: There are two large balls on the stage, in which small bone balls are placed. In the first lottery machine, the ticket numbers are marked on them, in the second - the winning amounts. Children from a Madrid orphanage take out the balls and chant, as in church, the numbers that determine the winners.

Rules of participation in El Gordo de Navidad

One ticket of the Spanish national bingo lottery costs 200 euros (compare with the affordable price of Russian Lotto and Housing Lottery- 50 rubles). Due to the high cost, each El Gordo de Navidad ticket is divided into 10 parts, "tithes", and anyone can buy a tenth of a ticket for 20 euros. But in this case, the winnings will be 10% of the cash prize. This is why lottery syndicates are so popular in Spain.

Photo from website: antoniotajuelo.com

Even those Spaniards who do not regularly participate in lotteries are sure to buy tickets for the Christmas draw. Just imagine the streets of any, even the smallest town in December: shop windows decorated with lights and Santa Clauses, mistletoe wreaths on the facades of houses, the mysterious flickering of candles in the windows, decorated Christmas trees, festive music can be heard from everywhere, and on the main squares... Queues! Line up at lottery kiosks for El Gordo de Navidad tickets! Spain is home to 47 million people, and almost all of them are eager to try their luck.

Many people rely not only on their own luck, but also choose tickets with “talking” numbers. For example, in 2013, the most asked questions were: number 28213 (date of abdication of Pope Benedict XVI) and 13313 (date of election of the new Pope, Francis). As we see, the Spaniards are a nation that believes not only in God, but also in miracles. However, in this southern country there is also secular heroes. For example, the wedding of the Duchess of Alba, which took place on October 5, 2011, became a reason for interest in ticket number 51011. Tickets symbolizing sports victories: 09613 commemorates Rafael Nadal's championship at Roland Garros, and 09913 commemorates his victory at the US Open.

El Gordo Lottery Winners

In 2014, El Gordo de Navidad had a prize fund of 2.4 billion euros! The super prize of 4,000,000 euros was shared among several participants from different regions Spain. The second most important prize was equal to 250,000 euros and was also proportionally divided among fifty lucky winners. The third prize was twice as big - 500,000 euros - and went to the municipality of Hospitalet de Llobregat, where it seemed that the lottery syndicate so beloved of the Spaniards had won.

As we wrote above, the size of all winnings, except for the super prize, is determined by randomly drawn balls from the lottery drum, so every year there are different numbers. For example, the second prize in 2012 was an amount of more than 40,000,000 euros, which went to a single participant. And in 2011, the same prize exceeded 1 million euros.

In 2010, many prizes for total amount 180,000,000 euros went to lottery fans who bought tickets in a bar in a town near Barcelona. You really never know where luck will smile.

Russian Lotto is the popular Russian bingo lottery!

The most famous bingo lottery in Russia is, of course, Russian Lotto. This TV lottery continues the good tradition of family evenings playing lotto. For more than 20 years, every week, the permanent presenter Mikhail Borisov, in front of the audience, pulls the treasured barrels with numbers out of the bag.

Photo from website: mk.ru

The rules of the Russian Lotto are simple: 15 are printed in each of the two fields of the ticket. random numbers. During the drawing, barrels numbered from 1 to 90 are placed into a bag, and then the presenter takes them out one at a time and announces the numbers. Participants find and mark these numbers on their tickets and find out the winning amounts. And the prizes here are very tempting: sums of money of various denominations, apartments, cars and a multimillion-dollar Jackpot! At the same time, the ticket price is low - 50 rubles. And in anticipation significant dates offers holiday editions, for which block tickets are issued. What it is? A block ticket is a beautifully designed set of four Russian Lotto cards with all numbers from 1 to 90. Participating in such draws is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also profitable, because in this situation the chances of winning significantly increase. And how can you please your family and friends by presenting such a ticket as a gift!

By the way, many Russian Lotto winners received their happy ticket just as a present! For example, 23-year-old Kristina Dovzhik* from St. Petersburg received a lottery ticket from her friend on March 8 young man. And she won 1,000,000 rubles in the 1065th draw! Christina has many plans for the prize she won. “I would like a new car, but the young man insists that we invest this amount in buying an apartment. I don't know, in general. In any case, it was an amazing gift that I will remember for a long time.”

Anna N., who works as a waitress in one of the Moscow cafes, received a non-standard gift. The grateful visitor left the girl a Russian Lotto ticket. And it turned out to be the most generous tip in her life, because during the drawing of the 1055th draw she became the owner of 1,000,000 rubles! “They left me a lot of things as tips: candy wrappers, drawings, chocolates, and notes inviting me on a date. But this is the first time I’ve had a lottery ticket,” the winner smiles and continues: “I saw that he was putting down some piece of paper.” I wondered: what is this? I didn’t immediately realize that it was a lottery ticket... But the most exciting moment, as it turned out, came for me right now. When you need to decide how to dispose of your winnings. And I want to buy a car, and give my mother some kind of surprise, and go on vacation. Or maybe I can do all this? Still a million!”

You can purchase Russian Lotto tickets at lottery kiosks in your city, at Euroset communication stores, Svyaznoy stores, Russian Post offices and on the website of the online lottery supermarket Stoloto. The results of the draws are published on the websites and www.lotonews.ru, as well as in the weekly newspaper “Arguments and Facts”. Participate in the Russian Lotto lottery and win!


*Photo is used with the consent of the winner.

In Spain there is another event, super popular and in terms of intensity of passion comparable only to football or bullfighting - the Christmas lottery El Gordo - Fat Man, which has existed since 1763!

A Since 1812, this lottery has become an annual draw. And, despite the fact that at first only Spaniards could play this lottery, it impeccable reputation served as a clear signal for players from all over the world.

According to a custom dating back to King Carlos III, the numbers of the “lucky” balls are announced in a chant by the students of the San Ildefonso boarding school.

Today, December 22, all of Spain, which is more than 40 million people, is already glued to their TV screens from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm. The apocalypse is cancelled! The main draw of the year for the Christmas Spanish state national lottery is being drawn, the tickets of which are bought by 85% of Spanish citizens, who stand in a huge queue the day before to make a wonderful purchase.

Tickets are quite expensive - 200 euros for a full ticket, so most often the Spaniards buy them together and the minimum contribution is 1/10. That's why The game plan is divided into ten parts and have the same number. If you buy a part - decimos of one lottery ticket with the same numbers, then in this case there is a chance to get most of the prize that falls on the number of this billete ticket; if several parts from different lottery tickets with different numbers are purchased, then this choice will increase the chances of winning a prize, but will contain a smaller part prize fund, due to the winning ticket.

A unique feature of the El Gordo lottery is its large prize fund - 70% of the money collected. The remaining 30 go to distributors and the state. And more than one person gets the main prize. There can be 185 tickets sold with the same numbers. That is, purely theoretically, 185 people can win the main prize. And divide it among each other.

Each time the size of the total prize fund increases, since it directly depends on the number of tickets sold per year, and this year 2012 it amounts to 2.520 billion euros!!!

And the first prize of the lottery was 50 thousand picetas and 17 thousand tickets were sold, and the most record amount 1.7 billion euros was delivered in 2002.

Every Spaniard spends about 50 euros a year on these lottery tickets, never giving up his hopes of winning.

One point that creates a problem: lottery tickets are not personalized, but to the bearer. You can imagine what follows...

And another one is more pleasant: no taxes are paid on winnings at El Gordo, whereas in most other EU countries the state has to give up to half of the amount won

I will inform you later about the results of the draw and who was the lucky winner this time)

And a few more historical facts:

The word “lottery” comes from the consonant Italian word “lotto”, translated meaning “fate”.

Gambling originated in ancient times, when man first realized his ability to influence fate. And it is no coincidence that fate is called lot, and a successful combination of circumstances is called Fortune.

IN Ancient Rome there were temples dedicated to Fortune, who blindly bestows wealth and happiness. She, the goddess of Luck, was sung by poets, and sculptors carved her out of marble with a blindfold, turning the wheel of luck with her hand.

So, friends, may Fortune smile on us all today and perhaps change our lives!

Like those regular visitors brasserie "Asturias" in Valencia, who pooled lottery tickets for $248 and won 5.4 million euros!!! And later, out of insane happiness, almost all of Valencia was filled with beer)