The El Gordo (The Fat One) Christmas lotto is the most traditional lotto game in Spain with the vast percentage of the country’s inhabitants taking part.  In fact, this draw has grown to be a national diversion with 98% of Spain’s inhabitants playing.  This is not really unexpected when you hear that the El Gordo lottery is the largest prize fund lotto game worldwide.
 
The typical Spaniard spends about €73 in the Christmas draw and in 2008 the prize fund is expected to exceed a massive €2.20 billion.  Here are a number of major features of the El Gordo lottery:
 
• In excess of 13,000 prizes are paid out.
• It is operated by the Spanish Government.
• There is an outstanding 1 in 6 likelihood of grabbing a cash prize.
• All prizes are paid out right away and are free of tax for Spanish residents.
• 70% of the revenue generated by ticket sales is paid out in prizes.
 
Ever since December 1812 this Spanish national lottery has followed exactly the same procedure every year.  Two huge circular containers are used; one of them contains tens of thousands of small wooden balls representing all ticket numbers; the other one contains a smaller quantity of wooden balls representing the prizes to be drawn. In the Lotería Nacional hall in Madrid, pupils of the San Ildefonso School (formerly reserved for orphans of public servants) draw the numbers and corresponding prizes, singing the results audibly in front of the public while Spanish radio and television stations transmit the occasion. 

Due to the considerable quantity of numbers and prizes, this procedure takes about 3 hours to complete.  In recent years, over 4,800 individual numbers have collected at least €1,000 per billete (€100 per décimo) in the Christmas draw.  Those individuals who are not fortunate enough to win a cash prize often make the predictable remark that “it’s health that really matters”. Players who only win their entry fee back will often re-invest the prize in a ticket for El Niño, the second most important draw, which takes place on the 6th of January each year.

The two container system is the traditional method of drawing the numbers in Spanish lotteries but this method is now set aside solely for the famous Christmas lottery draw.  The remainder of the weekly draws as well as the five other yearly El Gordo draws utilize five containers with 10 balls in each, from where the winning numbers are picked.

Lotto outlets in Spain typically only sell tickets for one or two numbers, so the winners of the biggest prizes frequently live in the same city or district or work for the same company.  In 2005, the winning number was sold in the town of Vic in Catalonia (population 37,825), whose inhabitants scooped in the region of €500 million.

Historically, you could only participate in the El Gordo lottery if you were a citizen of Spain.  However, with the introduction of lottery ticket sales agents you now have the opportunity to take part in this internationally renowned Spanish lottery regardless of where you reside around the world.  Some global El Gordo syndicates have also been introduced to not only allow more people access to this lottery but to boost their probability of winning cash prizes also.

During December 2008 e-Lottery added the El Gordo to its product range offering individuals around the world a vastly improved opportunity of receiving a share in this mammoth Spanish lottery prize fund.

If you are new to the Elgordo lottery, let me highlight just how important this lotto is to a large percentage of Spaniards.  The El Gordo lottery has been a national obsession in Spain since way back in December 1812 with massive appeal generated by the Christmas draw every year.  In fact, 98% of the population play this Spanish National lottery every Christmas.  

There are a number of major reasons why so many Spanish nationals partake in the Christmas El Gordo lottery draw.  Firstly, there is the incentive of the largest lottery prize fund of any worldwide lottery game – 2.20 Billion Euros!  Secondly, there are in excess of 13,000 cash prizes to be won.  Finally, the odds of collecting a cash prize in the Christmas draw are a highly achievable 1 in 6.     

With the amount of interest that is paid to the Christmas El Gordo lottery draw, lots of individuals are not even aware that there are five more El Gordo draws each year as well.  These take place in January, March, May, July and November.  Although these 5 draws do not enjoy the incredible prize fund of the Christmas game, they are considerable nonetheless, ranging from 78 million Euros to 655 million Euros.  Furthermore, these games offer almost 3 times as many prizes as the Christmas draw and odds of collecting a cash prize of an incredible 1 in 3.  

The Spanish Christmas Lottery works differently to the majority of other worldwide lotteries. A whole ticket ‘billete’ is very pricey, costing 200 Euros.  However, these tickets are split up into ten ‘decimos’ (tenths) costing 20 Euros each.  When purchasing your tickets you have the option of purchasing one decimo, a complete ticket, or a portion of a ticket.  If you do not purchase the whole ticket, someone else will purchase the remainder of your ticket.  For example, if you purchase two decimos, someone else buys three and another buys five decimos and your ticket scoops 1000 Euros, then you will secure 200 Euros, 300 Euros and 500 Euros respectively.  Due to the price tag of buying an entire ticket, it is typical for families and friends to pool their lottery funds and each person purchase a single ‘decimo’ (tenth).

The likelihood of winning a cash prize in the El Gordo lottery are tremendous but if you opt to play as a member of one of e-Lottery’s El Gordo syndicates you will experience a 20 times improved chance of sharing cash prizes in each draw.

Discover the range of benefits of playing the El Gordo as an e-Lottery syndicate member and revel in the excitement of this monstrous Spanish National lottery.