The Ultimate Loteria de Navidad Guide

Loteria de Navidad's History

The first Spanish Christmas raffle draw ever took place on December 18, 1812 in Cadiz held by one of the Spanish Public Administration Institutions, now called the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. The first prize, known as the El Gordo was scooped by the ticket number 03604. At that time, this special draw was called Prósperos de Premios, and the name Sorteo de Navidad (Christmas Draw) was first used for the draw in December 23, 1892, but did not appear on tickets until 1897.

In the past, the draws of this Christmas lottery were taking place in the Lotería Nacional Amphitheater in Madrid, and in 2010 and 2011 the draw was hosted by the Madrid Municipal Congress Palacio. Starting 2012, the draw takes place at the Teatro Real in Madrid, located in Plaza de Isabel II.

The School of San Ildefonso in Madrid (in the past a school for orphans and children of civil servants) is a symbol for this draw as well as for other Spanish raffles. In fact, some of the funds from the sale of the tickets are donated to this school. The Spanish Lottery organizes during the year other special raffle draws that aim to fund this institution, whose pupils draw the balls from the ballot box and sing the results out loud. Until 1984, only boys from San Ildefonso participated in the Lottery of Navidad. 1984 marked a historic turn, Mónica Rodríguez being the first girl to be allowed to participate.

In 1837, it was the first time there were two top prizes of equal value. On December 22, 1938, because of the Civil War, there were two Loteria de Navidad draws, one in Barcelona and one in Burgos.

The Loteria de Navidad Tickets

This is yet another of the great traditions surrounding the Loteria de Navidad. Every year, the lottery issues a ticket featuring one of Spain’s greatest works of art. This is meant to pay homage to the country’s astounding cultural heritage. Here is a short list of the visuals included on the tickets:

• 2023 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “La Natividad” – an oil painting on panel by Maestro de Sopetrán – displayed in the Prado National Museum in Madrid.

• 2022 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “La Virgen con el Niño en la Gloria” – an oil painting by Maratta Carlo – part of the Spanish Royal Collection of the National Museum of Madrid.

• 2021 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “La Virgen de la granada” – a tempera on panel by Fra Angelico; displayed in the Prado National Museum in Madrid.

• 2020 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “La Adoracion de los Magos” – an oil on canvas by Peter Paul Rubens; displayed in the Prado National Museum in Madrid.

• 2019 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “Sagrada Familia con San Juanito, o Virgen de la rosa” – an oil on panel transferred to canvas, by Raffaello Sanzio; displayed at the National Gallery in London.

• 2018 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “Virgen con el Niño” –painting from the Retablo de la Vida del Virgen y de San Francisco – displayed in the Prado National Museum in Madrid.

• 2017 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “Adoracion de los pastores” – an oil painting by Bartolome Esteban Murilio, 1650 – displayed in the Prado National Museum in Madrid.

• 2016 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “Nacimiento flamenco” – polychrome wooden altarpiece from the XV century, anonymous – featured in the Santa Maria Cathedral in Leon.

• 2015 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “Adoracion de los pastores” – oil painting by Juan del Castilio, XVII century – featured in the Museum of Beautiful Arts in Sevilla.

• 2014 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “Adoracion de los Reyes Magnos” – painting by Pieter Coecke van Aelst – XVI century – featured in the Prado National Museum in Madrid.

• 2013 Loteria de Navidad Ticket – “El Nacimiento” – canvas made in oil by Federico Barocci in 1597 - featured in the Prado National Museum in Madrid.

What Are the Odds of Winning at the Lotería de Navidad?

Loteria de Navidad offers 15,304 ways to win on each ticket. Odds of winning start at 1 in 10 for the lowest prize of this raffle and goes up to 1 in 1,00,000 for the €68 crore jackpot (for the whole winning ticket). The chances of winning the €40 lakh jackpot (with one copy) are of one in 1,70,00,000. The odds of winning the €4,00,000 prize (with one share) are of one in 17,00,00,000.

On average, players have a 5.3% chance of winning, which is quite appealing when compared to the odds of winning the Powerball or other lotteries. The odds of winning the El Gordo prize are of 0.001%, while the EuroMillions lottery offers 1 in 13,98,38,160 chances to hit the jackpot (0.0000000086%). When you play US Mega Millions online or other lottery giants, you have even less appealing odds of winning the top prize.

What Are Loteria de Navidad's Statistics?

• The 15,640 number was twice the winner in the history of this raffle - in 1956 and 1978. Same as 20,297 - in the years 1903 and 2006.

• The El Gordo prize was scooped four times with tickets with the same three-digit number: 25,444, 25,888, 35,999 and 55,666.

• The two-digit combinations that have been repeated over the years are: 85, 7 times (in 1841, 1858, 1867, 1868, 1900, 1915 and 2005); 57, 6 times (in 1820, 1846, 1871, 1878, 1881 and 1932); 75, 5 times (1825, 1835, 1843, 1869 and 1962); 64, five times (in the years 1821, 1948, 1961, 1976 and 1987), 95, four times (in 1886, 1994, 1995 and 2001) and 58 times four times (in 1881, 1987 and 2012).

• Winning tickets have never ended in: 09, 10, 21, 25, 31, 34, 41, 42, 43, 51, 54, 59, 67, 78 and 82.

• 1 was the rarest figure for ending the jackpot winning code, followed by 2 and 9.