Learn About the World’s Largest Raffle Jackpot
The Spanish Christmas El Gordo Lottery is an annual national raffle also known locally as the Lotería de Navidad. This Spanish raffle started just over 200 years ago in 1812 and occurs every year during the Christmas season. The raffle is considered the world’s biggest lottery and in 2020 will award €2.4 billion in prizes with attractive winning odds starting at 1:6.5 for a prize. More than 26 million shares are expected to win!
Lotería de Navidad is just one of the raffles available at LottoSmile. See our Spanish Raffles Guide for full information.
Lotería de Navidad History
Lotería de Navidad, officially Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad, held its first draw in Cadiz on 18 December 1812. Draws first took place in Madrid in 1814. The name Sorteo de Navidad has been in use since 1892. The raffle continued without interruption during the years of the Spanish Civil War, but the draws took place in Valencia. In the past, drawings took place in the Lotería Nacional hall in Madrid. In the years 2010 and 2011, drawings were held at the Palacio Municipal de Congresos de Madrid, and since 2012 they have taken place in Madrid’s Teatro Real.
The Spanish Christmas El Gordo Lottery numbers are drawn in a special way, much different than any other lottery in the world: students from the San Ildefonso School draw the results and sing them aloud to the public at the Lotería Nacional Hall of Madrid!
Lotería de Navidad Rules
The Spanish Christmas Lottery prints 100,000 tickets (billetes) with five-digit codes ranging from 00000-99999. Due to the game’s popularity, each ticket is printed in 172 copies. The ticket is divided into 10 shares called ‘décimos’ which can be purchased individually. This formula explains the huge amount of shares on the market for this year’s December 22nd draw:
100,000 tickets * 172 copies * 10 shares = 172 million shares
The distribution of prizes, quantity of tickets and shares, and their prices may vary from year to year. In 2004, there were 66,000 different five-digit numbered tickets in 195 copies. In 2005, the number of tickets for sale was 85,000 which were offered in 170 copies. In 2011, there were 99,000 tickets printed in 160 copies.
Winning the Lotería de Navidad El Gordo
The Lotería de Navidad - El Gordo offers the world's largest prize pool, which in 2020 will stand at €2.4 billion. The highest prize available in this raffle draw is €4 million, with an amazing 1:100,000 chances of winning this top prize. A player owning all ten shares of a 1st prize winning ticket is eligible to claim the €4 million jackpot prize. Lotería de Navidad will award a total of €688 million in jackpot prizes to the 172 tickets with the winning raffle code.
Overall, prizes will be awarded to 15,304 tickets in every series, which means that 1 in every 6.5 tickets wins a cash prize!
About 98% of all Spanish adults take part in the Spanish Christmas El Gordo Lottery celebrations, even if they usually do not participate in local or global lotteries. It is expected that more than 24 million share holders will collect prizes from the 15,304 possible winning combinations in every draw.
The amount of tickets available for this raffle will be limited as the draw gets closer, so get your tickets before the draw closes on December 21st at lottosmile.in!
Loteria de Navidad Prize Breakdown