Christmas is the time of the year that fills us with hope and when it feels like there is a bit of magic in the air. On the day when the Spanish Christmas Lottery is played we all look forward to getting that stroke of luck that would change our lives forever, but… have you ever thought about how the Christmas draw works?

In this article we want to tell you about its origin, prizes and numbers that have brought the most joy to many family homes.

How the Christmas lottery draw works and its origins

The Christmas lottery is an extraordinary draw of the National Lottery, as are the Sorteo del Niño (Children’s Draw) or the Father’s Day draw.

On 22nd December, thousands of Spaniards are glued to their TV screens in the hope that some San Ildefonso kids will sing their number in the Palacio de Congresos (Congress Palace) or the Teatro Real (Royal Theatre). However, this has not been always like that. The draw started taking place on 18th December, then on 23^rd December, and finally it was set on 22^nd December.

Most likely, you would have seen at some point how the Christmas lottery draw works. One hundred thousand ball are put in a rotating drum, each of them with the corresponding participating numbers, and in another rotating drum, 1,807 balls are put in, one ball with each prize shared.

When both drums rotate, the kids take out one ball from each drum at the same time, in such a way that each prize is associated with the number of a tenth-share ticket.

The balls are threaded in a wire to form tables made up of 200 balls (100 balls with numbers and 100 balls with prizes).

This process is carried out for over 4 hours until no balls are left in the prize drum.

Now that you already know how it works, we are going to tell you a little bit about its history.

Something that influences how the Christmas lottery draw works currently is the number of years it has been around for. The Marquis of Esquilache, in order to increase public revenue, encouraged this game during the Cortes de Cádiz (Courts of Cadiz).

The Christmas Lottery was held for the first time in 1811, and in those times it was known as the “Modern Lottery”. That name was not changed until 1892.

Something that many superstitious people believe is that the numbers starting with zero are never winning numbers; however, the number 03604 was the first number to win the “gordo” lottery prize.

Who are the San Ildefonso kids?

The main protagonists in the Christmas Lottery celebration each year are the kids from the San Ildefonso School.

The participants must meet two requirements: be tall enough to reach the balls and be over 8 years of age and, well, a third requirement that is not officially written, but which gives that special touch, is to have a nice voice.

The first kid who sang the lottery was Diego López, in the times when Carlos II was king, in 1771.

How much does it cost to play the Christmas Lottery?

This is an important question, since the bigger the cost, the bigger the prize if luck strikes.

The numbers are divided in 3 different categories:

Tenth-share Ticket

20 Euros tickets that are bought in a lottery administration (specific lottery-designated shop).

Ticket

Composed of ten tenth-share tickets with the same number or series. There are 172 tickets for each number. Each ticket costs 200 Euros.

Series

This corresponds to the total number of tickets that have the same number. Each series has 100,000 tickets and one series costs 20,000,000 Euros.

Shares are tenth-share tickets that a group of people want to share, but are not issued by the National Lottery.

What are Christmas Lottery prizes?

Would you like to know how much you can win? The prizes are shown below:

1st prize: 400,000 Euros.
2nd prize: 125,000 Euros.
3rd prize: 50,000 Euros.
4th prize: 20,000 Euros.
5th prize: 6,000 Euros.
Prior and subsequent numbers to the first prize number: 2,000 Euros.
Prior and subsequent numbers to the second prize: 1,250 Euros.
Prior and subsequent number to the third prize number: 960 Euros.
Hundreds of the 1st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th prize: 100 Euros.
Reimbursement (number that ends in the same number as “el Gordo”).
“Pedrea” (minor lottery prize): 100 Euros.

How much do you get for the Christmas “pedrea”?

The “pedrea” is a prize for the value of 1,000 Euros per ticket that is given out in the Christmas Lottery.

When it comes to analysing how the Christmas draw works, many people want to know the details regarding the first prize, but the “pedrea” is a much more likely way to get up to 100 Euros per tenth-share ticket, since a total of 282 million Euros are given out in this way.

Therefore, even if you have not won the first prize, do not forget to check if your number has a prize, as you could still get pocket yourself a nice surprise!

Until when can you buy Christmas Lottery?

In the summer there are already places where you can buy your ticket number to play the lottery. However, many people wonder how the Christmas lottery draw works in this respect, as they prefer to buy their tickets at a date closer to 22^nd December.

This is the reason why we wanted to let you know that you have until 10.00pm on 21^st December to do this.

What if you buy an electronic tenth-share ticket?

A quite interesting option to avoid the drama that some people have experienced buying a winning paper ticket and losing it, is to buy an electronic ticket.

At Lotería Berenguela you can safely buy your lottery ticket. Below we explain the only thing you need to bear in mind in order to know how the Christmas Lottery draw works when you need to cash a lottery ticket bought online at any lottery administration.

The fist thing you need to know is that the way to get paid is different if your prize is less than 2,000 Euros or more than 2,000 Euros:

If the prize you win is less than €2,000, you don’t need to do anything; it will be credited directly to your user account and you can cash it in whenever you like, even after the end of the 90-day period established by Loterías y Apuestas del Estado.
If the prize is €2,000 or more, you will need to cash in your money in a bank that works in partnership with Loterías y Apuestas del Estado within a maximum period of 90 days from the day of the draw.

How is a Christmas lottery shared tenth-share ticket divided and given out to the participating buyers?

It is believed that 3 out of 4 people share their tenth-share ticket with friends, relatives or work colleagues…

In order to avoid disappointment and getting upset, we advise that you follow a series of recommendations in order to do this:

Make sure that you have written proof of who shares the tenth-share ticket and the amount that is played. Something that is old-fashioned but works is to make photocopies of the tenth-share ticket and to state the amount and sign it after.
WhatsApp images will also be valid in the unfortunate event of needing to go to court for distribution of the prize.
Specifying the amount played by each player is not only important to receive the prize amount, but it is also vital to know the proportion of taxes that need to be paid.
Each person must cash their prize, because if one person alone cashes in all the money and then shares it, this is considered a donation and the taxes imposed will be different.

To help you with these steps, at Loteria Berenguela we offer you the option to indicate whether the tenth-share ticket is going to be for a group and, if so, we will send each participant an e-mail with the amount that he/she needs to pay and a copy of the tenth-share ticket.

How much does the Tax Office keep from your prize?

When explaining how the Christmas Lottery Draw works, a very frequently asked question is “How much will the Tax Office keep?”

Well, while in the past one had to pay 20% for all the prizes over €20,000, since 2020 you only have to pay this percentage for prizes amounting to over €40,000.

How does the Spanish Christmas lottery work? All you need to know about this draw