Yes, Ok. It's a little early for Christmas carollers, mince pies and tinsel in the stores. You've probably even got a few more months before Rudolph puts in an appearance. However, it's not too soon to get excited about the El Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad.
That's right, tickets to Spain's famous Christmas Raffle - the world's biggest lottery - are now on sale!
The Spanish Christmas Raffle's famous winning number is known as El Gordo - "The Fat One", but this is a little misleading. This year there are once again 170 ticket series, meaning 170 "Fat Ones" at €4-Million each. In fact, there are just so many winning raffle numbers that the draw takes hours, and is a big festival in its own right. The draw is broadcast live on Spanish television.
This year the total prize money is once again a simply staggering €2.38 billion, and the draw will take place around the 22nd of December. Since the Spanish Christmas Raffle comes but once a year, we thought it may be helpful to get a reminder of how it works.
How do You Play Christmas El Gordo Raffle?
Christmas El Gordo tickets are made up of five digit numbers ranging from 00000 to 99999. Each ticket is further split into tenths (or 'decimos' in Spanish). If you select the Christmas El Gordo from the list of available lottery games that you can play online, you will see which Raffle numbers we have available, and how many decimos are still available for each. You can’t purchase more shares than are currently available.
Now you have various options:
- Wide: Pick and buy shares across many available tickets. Spreading your shares among different tickets increases your chances of winning.
- Deep: Pick all or most shares in one or more numbers. Choosing more shares in a single ticket increases the amount you will win if that number wins a prize, because your eventual winnings relate to how many shares you have in a prize. A one-tenth share in a ticket means a one-tenth share in the prize.
More About the Christmas El Gordo Raffle
The Christmas El Gordo Raffle has an excellent pedigree - it has been around since 1812, and this year it's happening for the 207th time. That real staying power has made it a huge event in the Spanish national consciousness, and tickets to the draw are incredibly popular. Meaning they could sell out fast!
This year, as with previous years, the live televised draw will take place in the Teatro Real de Madrid with the assistance of the children of San Ildefonso School. During the draw you'll see two drums. One contains 100 000 wooden balls, each with a lottery number from 00000 to 99999 printed on it. The second drum has balls with the different prizes on.
The host for the evening takes a ball from each drum, shows them to the audience and the children sing out the numbers. The process can take up to three hours, but it's never tedious, your number could come up at any moment!
If your number matches a drawn number you share the drawn prize amount with the owners of the 170 winning tickets. Because of the different series, 169 other tickets also contain the number you picked.
Are you as excited as all the other El Gordo ticket holders? Don’t miss out on this unique experience that only takes place once a year. With over 15000 winning ticket numbers, it's worth making the Christmas El Gordo raffle an early Christmas present to yourself. You can find your ticket on LottosOnline.
