It’s crazy popular in Spain, and not greatly understood beyond those borders. But I have to admit, I love the bizarre old El Gordo Christmas lottery. It’s €2.4 Billion of total wackiness.
I mean, just look at this – what other lottery draw creates this kind of build up? There’s a rabid buzz in the air. People are foaming at the mouth and starting to go a little crazy…:-
This is a behind the scenes video shot during a previous draw. The draw machine is on stage somewhere behind all the mad melee.
This is El Gordo – Normal Rules Do Not Apply
For those who haven’t seen it before, the level of excitement is pretty odd just for a lottery draw.
Spain as a whole loves the Christmas El Gordo lottery draw. It’s part of being Spanish to play in this draw.
Note: I hope you love any products I recommend here as much as I do. But just so you know, this site may receive a small share of the purchase price if you do buy as a result of following a link on this page. It doesn’t affect my opinion or the price you pay.
So What Is Christmas El Gordo?
As the name suggests this is a once per year special lottery draw. It’s drawn on 22nd December every year in Spain.
What makes it totally unique is the incredible size of the prize fund – €2.4 BILLION. And the vast number of actual prizes it pays out – hundreds of jackpots alone.
It’s also quite different in how you play it – as it’s more of a ‘raffle’ than a traditional lottery game.
El Gordo Christmas Lottery Prizes
Here’s just the top prizes for the Christmas El Gordo:-
- 170 x €4 Million prizes
- 170 x €1.25 Million prizes
- 170 x €500,000 prizes
- 340 x €200,000 prizes
- 1,360 x €60,000 prizes
- 304,980 x €1,000 prizes
Then there are all sort of bonus prizes for things like matching the numbers picked before and after the 3 major prize winning numbers (that’s 340 x €20,000). And so it goes on.
So as you can see there are actually hundreds of jackpot prizes here. Nothing massive, just lots of them – which is just the way it should be. Who cares if 1 person wins 400 Million, I want to see 100 of you all win 4 Million instead!
In all there are nearly 3 million individual prizes paid out!
More Madness – The El Gordo Draw Process
It’s also part of being Spanish to spend hours watching the big draw on TV.
And it does take hours too. About 3 hours in all.
That’s because El Gordo pays out thousands of different prizes. And each prize is also drawn out of a ball machine too.
So first they draw a winning number from one machine, then the prize that ball has won from the next machine.
You already know your number has won, but you then have to sit and watch them draw the actual amount. It could be €100 or it could be €4 Million..!
Now there’s a tense few seconds in anyones life…?
Here’s a short video of the El Gordo draw in action. Bet you’ve never seen draw machines like this before:-
You can see (and hear) the school children from San Ildefonso school collecting the balls from the draw cages. And then singing out the winning results (in Spanish of course)!
It’s tradition that pairs of children from the school are involved every year. They sing out the winning numbers whilst they deliver each of the lucky winning balls to the officials sat at their desk overseeing the madness.
The whole draw process goes on for THREE hours.
It’s the World’s LONGEST Lottery Draw.
There are 100,000 differently numbered balls in the large drum (the numbers that appear on your tickets), and the smaller drum contains balls marked with the prize amounts.
They draw thousands of numbers from a huge drum, and each one wins a different prize.
The whole draw takes place on TV, and all of Spain is gripped with excitement, for HOURS!
Here’s another older video of the draw from back in 2009:-
It’s like some weird mass hypnosis voodoo or something.
How To Play El Gordo Christmas Lottery
To play El Gordo you buy a ticket which already has the number printed on it like this:-
So the numbers that get drawn are those big 5 digit numbers at the top (in this case 12345). The numbers range from 00000 to 99999, and there is a lot of tradition and superstition around the numbers. Certain areas and families have been playing the same numbers for generations.
You can’t choose any number yourself as the tickets come ready printed. You can only choose from the selection available at the store you buy from (in person in Spain or online).
So tickets are more expensive than most lottery draws, but it’s great fun for a once a year punt.
WARNING: Buying El Gordo tickets online is a mine field!
You can buy tickets from various online ticket sellers. But what you get for your money does vary dramatically.
A standard ‘decimo’ ticket costs €20 if you buy it from a vendor in Spain. So if you can, buy them yourself or get a friend in Spain to.
Online, expect to pay double – that’s normal. But don’t get stung by the rip-off companies who charge a lot more than that (I’ve seen up to SEVEN times normal price before!).
This year I recommend you get your tickets from here. You get a fair price, and these guys have been around since 2002 (a lifetime in online terms).
Note for USA: sorry, but if you’re in the USA, you’re pretty much out of luck. Restrictions are so heavy for you folks living in the US now, that there is currently nowhere that I can recommend for you to get tickets (write to your Senator and ask them why they make it so hard for you to play in overseas lottery games, and what happened to the land of the free!).
Spanish Lottery’s El Gordo Christmas Advert (2019)
Something else that is eagerly awaited each Christmas is the new El Gordo TV advert for the draw. It’s always a very polished and expensive affair. This is a famous old Spanish institution after all (200 years of history right here). The adverts have become like mini-movies.
This year instead of one long advert we have a series of 4 shorter ones. No english subtitles yet, but if your Spanish is good, enjoy (or if you don’t speak Spanish, enjoy last years ad with subtitles here):-
The 2018 Ad With Subtitles:-
El Gordo Spanish Christmas Lottery Results
You probably won’t see the El Gordo draw live, unless you have a satellite feed from Spain (or er, live there!). It’s broadcast by TVE and RNE.
The results are also available from the Spanish lottery site after the draw is over (not quite as exciting). The english version of the site is here, but the translation is far from perfect.
El Gordo 2019 Results
Here’s the results for the last draw, which was 22nd December 2019:-
Prize | Winning Numbers |
---|---|
2019 El Gordo Results | |
1st | 26590 |
2nd | 10989 |
3rd | 00750 |
4th | 41710, 49797 |
5th | 06293, 23059, 54527, 66212, 69823, 74770, 75206, 81610 |
And here are some of the previous El Gordo results:-
Donald Hurley // Apr 30, 2014 at 1:12 am
Hello,
Could you email me the customer service telephone (if any) to speak to Michele or anyone else about my mail order? I need to speak to a live person right away. Please email it today. Donald
or leave it on my telephone voicemail machine 97xxxxx050
LG // Apr 30, 2014 at 6:05 pm
Hi Donald
If you mean the Michelle Brown that people have been warning about in earlier comments, then I’m afraid I have no idea how to contact her.
But if you’ve been ripped off, then I recommend contacting your credit card company and lodging a complaint with your local consumer complaints agencies.
Sorry I can’t help more.
Given // Jun 18, 2014 at 7:59 am
I want the result of EL GORDO in 2023 my TKT53076 close date 16 December drawn 22 December.
LG // Jun 18, 2014 at 6:37 pm
You want the result for the year 2023..! And you didn’t even say please 🙂
If you meant 2013, that’s a long time to wait to check your tickets! First was 62246, second was 79712, third was 51689. You can get the full results from the official Spanish lottery here.
Given // Jun 26, 2014 at 10:48 am
I was playing EL Gordo Christmas EL Nino lottery my Tkt is53076 or 34360 and you never send result and my mystery free gifts
LG // Jun 30, 2014 at 10:35 pm
OK. 6 months is a long time to wait to be chasing these up.
But you’re also asking completely the wrong person anyway 🙂
Who did you buy your tickets from?
Jane // Feb 20, 2015 at 6:01 am
I had a letter from Valerie Love about 3 years ago offering a Personalized Study, 9 months for $30 ($36 by check). I replied, received the study and it was pretty accurate. Her letterhead states she is a physic, Tarot reader and numerologist. Sent for a 2nd one and it, too, was pretty accurate. Then she was joined by Michele Brown with her Medals of Luck – which I didn’t purchase. Recently these two were joined by Eva, after which they formed the 7 Countries Ultimate Lottery Group in which membership is free providing a Personalized Study is purchased. I tried it once and, of course won nothing. I also received the letter saying they’d won a jackpot; however, there was no lottery name or the amount won. I told my grand-daughter who said it was a scam. She figured it out, I didn’t; she’s smart – I’m not.
Jane-Ann // Jan 19, 2016 at 7:37 am
About a year ago I received a Personal Study from Valerie Love. Like Jane, mine was pretty accurate. Then joined her 7 lotteries group. Didn’t win anything. Received another letter saying the group had had a good win and I should re-join. I didn’t, but am constantly receiving letters from her which I tear up and recycle.