La Loteria de Navidad (The Christmas Lottery)

The Christmas Lottery in Spain is a really big deal. First organized in 1812 (!) it has happened every year since, including during the Spanish Civil War. It is also considered the largest lottery in the world, with a total payout of about $2.8 billion (the total payout represents 70% of ticket sales, meaning that total sales are about $4 billion). Technically, a ticket for the lottery costs 200 euros, but they are generally sold in "decimos" (one-tenth) for, not surprisingly, 20 euros. Many groups and organizations further divide tickets allowing people to participate for as little as 1-2 euros. It is estimated that 75% of the Spanish population takes part in the lottery.

Many groups of friends or business associates form groups to buy tickets, and often people have friends buy tickets in other parts of the country because ticket numbers are sold geographically (this is, of course, pointless from an odds perspective, but people are superstitious). One small town in Catalunya is named Sort, which in the local Catalan dialect it is the word for luck. This small town sells 19% of all lottery tickets in the country -- mostly through the internet.

The lottery drawing is held each year on December 22. While we were aware of the lottery last year, we left Spain on December 2 and did not return until after the lottery was over, so we did not learn a lot about it, nor did we buy any tickets. This year our teacher talked a lot about the drawing and was the perfect example of how excited Spaniards get about the lottery.

We figured we'd try our luck and we bought a single ticket:

As you can see, the ticket contains a five-digit number. The drawing, which is televised on multiple stations, takes place in Madrid using two giant spherical cages. One contains the numbers from 00000-99999, the other containing the prizes. There are 1794 smaller prizes (100 euros), 8 fifth-place prizes (6000 euros), 2 fourth-place prizes (20,000 euros), 1 third-place prize  (50,000 euros), 1 second-place prize (125,000 euros) and "El Gordo," which literally means "the fat one". This grand prize is 400,000 euros. 

Two children receive each ball as they are ejected into the chute and literally sing the winning number and the prize won. With over 1800 prizes to award, this process takes hours. When one of the 13 large prizes is won, the process is briefly halted and the winning number is specially noted. It is considered an honor to sing when El Gordo is drawn and those children are congratulated. The children are from a school in Madrid and wear their school uniforms during the drawing. We watched a bit this morning, and now the tune to which the numbers are sung is stuck in our heads.

The mathematically inclined among you will note that there are only 100,000 numbers in this lottery. This is correct, which is why the prize amounts seem so low. In fact, multiple tickets with the same number are sold and all collect on whatever prize that ticket wins. In addition, there are other prizes related to having some of the same numbers as the big prizes. In particular, tickets that end in the same number as the ticket that wins El Gordo win 20 euros (in other words 10% of all tickets get their money back). The result is that the money won is widely distributed throughout the country.

So, how did we do in our first Christmas lottery? We actually won one of the small 100 euro prizes!! Next year, maybe El Gordo.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana