The Spanish Christmas Lottery 2022 is now on sale. From 4 July and until 22:00 hours of 21 December 2022, you will be able to buy your tenth-share lottery ticket in any Loterías y Apuestas del Estado official point of sale in Spain.

The Extraordinary Christmas Draw is, without a doubt, the most popular lottery draw of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. It is the draw that has shared the most prizes and brought the most hope for over 200 years, and the one with which approximately 75% of the Spanish people try their luck every year hoping for the Goddess of Fortune to turn their luck around.

This year, each number will have 8 more series than in 2021. Last year 172 series of each number were launched for sale, whereas this year (2022) a total of 180 series of 100,000 numbers will circulate, which will range between 00,000 and 99,999. As each series contains 10 tenth-share tickets, a total amount of 180 millions of tenth-share tickets will be issued for sale; in other words, 3,600 million Euros in total, out of which 2,520 millions will go to prizes (70% of the total issued).

Next, we are going to provide detailed information about the most important topics related to this lottery draw:

History
Prizes
Statistics
Interesting facts

History of the Spanish Christmas Lottery

The first lottery draw was held in Cádiz on 4 March 1812 through tickets with printed numbers, and it was named “Loteria Moderna” (Modern Lottery). On 18 December of that same year, the first Christmas draw took place. The first “Gordo de Navidad” (Christmas “Gordo” lottery) in history, consisting of a prize of 8,000 "pesos fuertes" (powerful pesos), was won with number 03604.

After the first draw of the “Modern Lottery”, this draw has been co-existing with the “Primitiva” Lottery for 50 years, which has been held since 1763. The success of the “Modern Lottery” started progressively displacing the Primitiva Lottery, growing exponentially to the detriment of La Primitiva, which declined year after year until it was wiped out in 1862, and which did not come back until 1985.

Over the years, the Christmas Draw of the National Lottery became without a doubt the most important draw of each year and the tradition that we all know nowadays, and for this reason, since 1892, it has been named "Christmas Draw".

How much money can you win playing the Spanish Christmas Lottery

The Christmas Draw shares the 70% of the colleted money in prizes, which remains exactly the same as the year 2021. These are all the prizes that you could win with a tenth-share ticket:

“El Gordo” (First prize): 400,000 euros
Second prize: 125,000 euros
Third prize: 50,000 euros
2 fouth prizes of 20,000 euros
13 fifth prizes of 6,000 euros
Previous and next numbers of the first prize: 2,000 euros
Previous and next numbers of the second prize: 1,250 euros
Previous and next numbers of the third prize: 960 euros
One hundredth (3 first numbers) of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd y 4th prize: 100 euros
1794 “Pedreas” of 100 euros
Ending of the two last numbers of the “El Gordo”, second and third prize: 100 euros
Reimbursement (“El Gordo” same last number): 20 euros

It shoud be clarified that the National Lottery prizes are cumulative, and therefore the same tenth-share ticket can carry several prizes. Let’s have a look at an example: in 2021 the winning Gordo number was 86148, and the second prize was for number 72119; if you had a tenth-share ticket with the number 72148, you would have a total prize of €220 by accumulating the following prizes:

€100 for the hundreds of the second prize
€100 for the last two numbers of the “El Gordo”
€20 for the reimbursement

What is more, you could accrue €100 extra for a “pedrea” and even another €960 if for example the third prize had been won with the numbers 72147 or 72149, i.e. a total of €1,280 accountable for the accumulation of prizes in a same number. That would not be bad at all, would it?

Lastly, it should be pointed out that in the Christmas Draw there is no special prize to the series or fraction, and therefore the serial numbers and the fraction of each tenth-share are irrelevant towards any prize.

Spanish Christmas lottery El Gordo statistics

Over 200 draws carried out are enough to bring about several statistics about the Christmas Lottery. The winning numbers of the first prize in the Christmas draw since 1812 until 2021 are those shown in the table below:

We are going to provide you with some clues to correctly choose your lucky numbers:

Most of the numbers awarded with “El Gordo de Navidad”(Spanish Christmas Lottery first prize) have been ranged between numbers from 10,001 to 30,000, which have been winners on 74 occasions.
The numbers between 0 and 10,000 have been awarded on 64 ocassions,which completely break the popular feeling againstlow numbers.
The numbers between 66,000 and 99,999have been awarded a lot less often, but there is a very easy explanation for this: up until 2004, 66,000 numbers were issued; from 2005 to 2010, 85,000 were issued; and from 2011, 100,000 numbers are issued.
The numbers beginning with the following tens of thousands have not ever won the first prize (El Gordo): 27, 37, 39, 41, 44, 51, 64, 67 to 70, 72 to 75, 77, and 80 to 99 thousand.
According to Loterias y Apuestas del Estado, the numbers between 40,000 and 49,999 have been the most awarded ones in the last 20 years, with 4 being the luckiest ten thousand to date.

The most awarded ending numbers of the Spanish Christmas Draw

As for the final number, the number 5 is the luckiest ending number, because it has won 32 times. It is followed by the numbers 4 and 6, which won 27 times in both cases. On the other hand, the least repeated ending numbers are 1, 2 and 9. The summary of the luckiest ending numbers is as follows:

5 on 32 ocassions
4 and 6 on 27 ocassions
8 on 23 ocassions
0 and 3 on 22 ocassions
7on 20 ocassions
9on 16 ocassions
2on 13 ocassions
1on 9 ocassions

Interesting facts and anecdotes of the Spanish Christmas Draw

Two centuries of such a deep-rooted tradition in Spain have given rise to a good number of interesting facts and anecdotes, some of them even funny. These are the most remarkable:

Traditionally, the day of this draw is considered as the starting of the Christmas holidays in Spain.
The first draw was held in 1812, the price of the full ticket was 40 "reales", and the first “Gordo” prize consisted of 8,000 "pesos fuertes" (powerful pesos), equivalent to 240.40 Euros today, which was quite a fortune in those times.
The Spanish Christmas Draw has never been cancelled since 1812, not even because of the Spanish Civil War.
In 1832, a total of 12,000 numbers were issued.
In 1837, the State decided to grant two “Gordos” with the same amount of money. The awarded numbers were 10998, sold in Jerez de la Frontera, and 03616, sold in Badajoz.
In 1938, during the Spanish Civil War, 2 simultaneous Christmas Draws where held on 22 of December of that year. The Republican side held its draw in Barcelona, with the number 22,655 being the winning number; the Francoist regime side did the same thing in Burgos, with the winning number being number 36,758.
In 1957, the draw was broadcasted for the first time on TV.
The most delayed Gordo in history was in 1990, and it was released eight minutes before the end of the draw.
2002 held the first draw in Euros, and it lasted about 10 minutes less than usual because of an interesting reason: it is not the same saying “mil euros” (one thousand euros), as saying “ciento cincuenta mil pesetas” (one hundred and fifty thousand pesetas).
The earliest Gordo in history was in 2004, and it was released only thirteen minutes after starting the draw.
Since 2010, the draw has been moved to the Palacio de Congresos (Congress Center) or the Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) in Madrid, after 47 consecutive editions at the previous venue of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado.
In 2013 fake news were spread in Spain about El Gordo, and it was announced that the prize had gone to a brothel of the town Quintanar de la Orden (Toledo province), and that none of the winners dared to cash their prizes because of shame. These fake news gave place later to a comedy movie called “Villaviciosa de al lado”.
El Gordo had been awarded in all provinces of Spain, after Avila and Zamora finally stopped being the only provinces that had never been awarded with the first prize of the Christmas Draw in 2018.
The floor where the draw takes place has carpet to stop the balls from rolling in case they fall down.
In 1959 there were only 8 series per number, this year, in 2022, there are 180.
Outside Spain, this lottery draw is known as “El Gordo”. The first prize has even travelled to Melbourne, Buenos Aires or Amsterdam.
The balls are made of boxwood, a bush that grows in the Iberian Peninsula, which produces very durable, good quality wood.
The numbers of the balls are laser-engraved so that the paint does not alter the weight of the balls and the heaviest ones do not come out first.

If you have read this far, you can consider yourself a Spanish Christmas Lottery total expert. Now, please. Now, please, don’t forget to buy your Christmas Lottery ticket!

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