The Spanish Christmas El Gordo Lottery offers the largest prize fund in the world with last year’s total prize pool standing at €2.702 billion. The upcoming 22 December draw is expected to create more than 26 million winning shares!
For the 2024 raffle, 100,000 five-digit code tickets (billetes) were printed in 185 identical copies. The codes are numbered from 00000-99999. Each ticket for Lotería de Navidad is made up of 10 shares (décimos). Tickets can be sold in whole or divided into shares. Follow this formula to understand how 185 million shares are available for players world-wide to win part of the unparalleled prize pool.
100,000 tickets * 185 copies * 10 shares = 185 million Lotería de Navidad shares
At the time of the raffle draw, which lasts about three hours, two spherical drums are used to pull the winning raffle numbers. The larger drum contains tens of thousands of small wooden balls with the five-digit codes imprinted on them. The smaller drum contains 1,807 wooden balls, each representing variations of the available prizes on it. A single ball is selected from each drum simultaneously to match each prize with one of the 100,000 ticket numbers.
The results are sung aloud by children of San Ildefonso School who practice for the event for months leading up to the drawing. One child sings aloud the winning five-digit number while the other sings the prize. The wooden balls are constructed like beads so that they can be inserted onto framed wires for presentation as the results are called.
Since the 2010 Lotería de Navidad - El Gordo, the lottery has undergone prize modifications which have increased the available prizes. From the 2011 draw : the 1st prize, Gordo, increased from €3 million to €4 million; the 2nd prize, Segundo, increased from €1 million to €1.25 million; and the 5th prize, Quintos, increased from €500,000 to €600,000.
