Spanish Christmas Lottery

, with its first draw held on 4 March 1812, is the second-longest continuously running lottery in the world, just behind Dutch running since 1726. This includes the years during the Spanish Civil War when two draws were held, one on each warring side. The first draw held at Christmas was on 18 December 1812 in Cádiz and the grand prize was for the number 03604. The first time that the Christmas draw was extraordinary was in 1818, and the first time the name was officially used was in 1897. ==Ticket numbers and prizes==

As all draws, the special Christmas draw is based on tickets () which have five-digit numbers, from 00000 to 99999. Since this system only produces 100,000 unique ticket numbers, each ticket number is printed multiple times, in several so-called series. The series is also identified on each ticket by a series number. In this way, the lottery organizer is able to sell more than 100,000 tickets each year, numbered from "Series 001 Ticket 00000" through "Series xxx Ticket 99999", where xxx is the total number of series printed in a given year. In 2025, there are 198 series of 100,000 tickets each, for a total of 19,800,000 tickets available at €200 each. If all €3.96 billion worth tickets were sold, there would be €2.772 billion (seventy percent of ticket sales) available for prizes. Because the €200 ticket price may be prohibitive for many purchasers, each of the pre-printed tickets is actually a perforated tear-apart sheet of ten identical sub-tickets (or fractions) sold for €20 each. Each one of these fractions is known as a (one-tenth). Each is entitled a ten per cent of any prize that the ticket has won. Tickets are officially sold in official lottery shops throughout the country as well as by sellers on the street. Frequently a shop will sell a ticket number in all series meaning that all the winners of that ticket will have purchased their tickets in that location. This sometimes leads to a small village full of grand prize winners. Locations where previous grand prize winners were sold often becomes a location of lottery pilgrimage where thousands of people will buy their ticket. The tickets are also sold outside of Spain, usually online, and often with a markup in price. On a private basis, or through associations, charities, workplaces, sports teams, cafés, shops, and other organizations, it is also possible to buy or be given a fraction of a (one-tenth ticket). Many organizations buy and divide them further into shares and sell them to the public, colleagues, or members of an association. Usually, with charities and special organizations, a small transaction fee is applied which is effectively a donation to the organization. Street sellers may take a commission earning a small profit. Such shares are made by writing the ticket number and the amount paid on a piece of paper and then signed. The paper is a legal contract in Spain and proof of participation in the ticket. If the ticket is a winner, anyone holding a share will be entitled to their proportional amount of the prize payout. For example, a charity may buy a and split it further into ten more shares, in this case selling them for €2 each plus €1 extra as a donation to the charity. If their number wins, they will get a one percent of the prize (one-tenth of one-tenth). For 2025, there are 198 series of 100,000 tickets (from 00000 to 99999) at €200 each. The maximum ticket sales of €3.96 billion would produce a prize payout of €2.772 billion (seventy percent of ticket sales). For each one of the 198 series, the prize structure is the following: In 2025, the €4,000,000 was paid to every series of number 79432. Every series of numbers 79431 and 79433 obtained the corresponding €20,000 approximation prizes. Additionally, every series of numbers between 79400 and 79499 (excluding but including approximations) obtained the €1,000 prizes for the numbers with the same first three digits of . Every series of numbers ending in "32" (excluding ) obtained €1,000, and every series of numbers ending in "2" (excluding ) obtained a refund of €200. The exact quantity of tickets and series, and their prices, may be different each year. For example, in 2004, there were 66,000 different numbers in 195 series. In 2005, there were 85,000 numbers in 170 series, whereas in 2006 the number of series was increased to 180. Since 2011 there have been 100,000 different numbers in 180 series. Distribution of prizes can also change, as in 2002 with the introduction of the Euro, or in 2011, when increased from €3,000,000 to €4,000,000, the second prize increased from €1,000,000 to €1,250,000, the fifth prizes increased from €50,000 to €60,000, and 20 more prizes of €1,000 were added. == Draw ==

The drawing traditionally takes place on the morning of 22 December. In the past, the drawings took place at the hall in Madrid, in 2010 and 2011 it was held at the , and since 2012 at the in Madrid. Pupils of the San Ildefonso school (formerly reserved for orphans of public servants) draw the numbers and corresponding prizes, delivering the results in song to the public. Until 1984, only boys from San Ildefonso participated in the drawing; that year Mónica Rodríguez became the first girl to sing the results, including the fourth prize of 25 million pesetas. The two-vessels system was the traditional system used by in all its draws, but nowadays it is only used in the Christmas draw. Since 1965 the rest of the ordinary and extraordinary draws use five spherical cages with ten balls each (numbered 0 to 9), from where the five digits of the winning numbers are drawn. Non-winners are known to claim "it's health that really matters" after losing. Those who get their money back often re-invest it in a ticket for , the second most important draw, held every 6 January, the Epiphany of Jesus day. == Odds ==

The smallest prize is the , tickets that end with the same last digit as the First Prize get the money back. This means ten per cent of all tickets get the money back. There is a 5.3% chance of winning higher prizes meaning more than fifteen per cent of all tickets win some prize which is a significantly higher winning rate than most other lotteries. The prize structure makes it easier to win some money compared to other lotteries, and it is common saying that the prizes of the Christmas Lottery are well distributed all around Spain. Chances of winning are 1 in 100,000, that is 0.001%, while chances of winning the top prize of EuroMillions are 1 in 139,838,160 or 0.00000072%, and chances of winning the top prize of Mega Millions are 1 in 302,575,350 or 0.00000000330496189%. The overall odds of winning some prize at the Extraordinary Christmas Draw of are 1:6.5, which is a 15.38%. The odds of winning each of the prizes are the following: ====

The climax of the drawing is the moment when is drawn. Lottery outlets usually sell multiple series –even all– of the numbers assigned to them, so the winners of the largest prizes often live in the same area, work for the same company, or are members of the same association. In 2011, was sold entirely in Grañén (Huesca), a town with about 2,000 people. In 2010, €414 million of the first prize were sold in three locations in Barcelona, and the rest of the €585 million of was distributed between Madrid, Tenerife, Alicante, Palencia, Zaragoza, Cáceres, and Guipúzcoa. In 2006, the first prize was sold in eight different lottery outlets across Spain, while the second prize was only ever sold in a kiosk on the Puerta del Sol in central Madrid. In 2005, the €510 million of were sold in Vic (Barcelona), a town with 37,825 inhabitants. As a misconception in many non-Spanish speaking countries, it is often assumed that the term is specific for the Christmas Lottery; some even think that is in fact the name of the lottery. However, the real meaning of is simply "the first prize" (literally "the fat one" or more accurately "the big one"); other lotteries have their as well. To add to the confusion, there is a relatively new weekly Spanish lottery game called , which has nothing in common with the Christmas lottery, except the fact that it is organized by the Spanish public lottery entity . prizes The price of each ticket and the prize of have varied over the years. As mentioned above, the price of a is one tenth of a ticket, and the prize that corresponds to it is also one tenth of the prize corresponding to the ticket. ==Notes==