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More than two billion euros – that’s the amount at stake in the Spanish Christmas lottery today. Like every year, the country is crazy about lottery tickets. Many people prepare the purchase meticulously and with great effort.
Work comes before celebration, and that’s how the game begins for many people in Spain. They analyze which lottery shops have had particularly big winnings in recent years. And then thousands get in their cars and drive hundreds of kilometers just to buy their tickets there.
Superstition beats statistics. Because of course there are a lot of winnings especially where a particularly large number of tickets are sold.
If you want to buy a ticket for the “El Gordo” lottery in the village of Sort, you have to have time. Because then you have to wait in line at a very specific kiosk.
A place called “happiness”
One of these places is a lottery in the Pyrenees village of Sort. This translates to “luck”. It is a kind of pilgrimage site for fans of the Spanish Christmas lottery.
From November onwards, queues form in front of the local lottery shop, which bears the name “Golden Witch”, like in front of outdoor swimming pools on summer days in August. “People come from all over Spain,” says owner Xabi Gabriel. “Some even take a plane from the Canary Islands.”
It’s the witch’s nose that counts
Then they queue for hours to buy tickets. And then again to rub the tickets on the nose of the store’s mascot, a golden witch.
These days, just before the drawing, the witch’s nose has lost all of its shine. The paint is literally gone – because of all the loose pieces that have been sanded over it.
Another hotspot is in the heart of Madrid. A perceived majority of lottery players from the capital are obviously convinced: only those who buy their tickets in the traditional “Dona Manolita” sales outlet can hope for great luck.
People in yellow high-visibility vests secure nearby alleys, across which a queue for the lottery currently forms every day.
Of course, you can buy a lottery ticket anywhere in Spain, including on the streets of Madrid. But do you then have the same chances of success?
The fat man brings great luck
Once they have reached the sales stands, the ticket buyers have to make a decision. There are 100,000 numbers in the lottery pot today.
And unlike the lottery known in Germany, the Spanish Christmas lottery is not about a combination of different numbers (6 out of 49). It’s simpler: one number becomes the big ticket, the main prize – called “El Gordo”, translated as “the fat one”.
Accordingly, the decision is painful for many: Which number should it be, which one should be bought? The statistics favor a ticket that ends with the number five. This has led to particularly high profits in recent years.
Wait. One thing is already clear: “The fat guy” is getting fatter. Each ticket number will be sold 185 times this year. That’s not all: these tickets are also divided into tenths.
Communal Millions in winnings
So if someone buys a so-called “tenth” and their number is drawn as the main prize, they will receive 400,000 euros per ticket.
But you can buy as many tickets as you want. And betting pools often buy numerous tickets of one number. It often happens that people celebrate winning millions together in villages and bars.
The balls with the lucky numbers are in these lottery drums. The draw is a big spectacle in Spain every year.
A thought becomes torment
It is said that 70 percent of all people in Spain play the Christmas lottery. The big danger here is that you chase happiness and spend huge amounts of money in the process. Many have shared ticket numbers with colleagues at work, in the sports club, with neighbors and in the local bar.
A thought that torments many: somewhere acquaintances buy more tickets together, they say: “Thanks, not for me this time” – and then: exactly that number comes up and at least 400,000 euros are gone.
After all, almost everyone knows stories of friends and acquaintances to whom exactly this has happened. It’s Spanish Christmas madness. But which reliably leads to new hope and new dreams throughout the year. And the Spaniards will be analyzed and waiting in line again next year.