El Gordo 2021: date, TV, livestream, tickets and prizes of the Spanish Christmas lottery

Created: 12/21/2021, 4:30 PM

From: Marcus Giebel

This is what winners look like: Anyone who wins the Christmas lottery has every reason to be happy.

© Manuel Buque / dpa

Christmas is often all about giving presents to other people.

With the Spanish Christmas lottery "El Gordo" everyone can also give themselves a present.

All information about the event.

Munich - The greatest human good is health - which the corona pandemic underlines once again in a special way.

Most of the world is actually all about money.

So the wealth.

What could be more obvious than luring with immense sums of money at Christmas?

In the form of a competition?

Are you excited for millions of people?

Welcome to "El Gordo"!

Welcome to the Christmas lottery!

In Spain, the number drawing, which takes place every year on the morning of December 22nd - two days before Christmas Eve - keeps the whole population in suspense.

The question then is: who is there giving birth to before the festival?

A sum of billions is distributed among the population.

In the world's largest lottery drawing.

"El Gordo": Three and a half hours of live broadcast on TV - this is how you can see the drawing in Germany

Since 1812 - held in Cadiz as a result of the Spanish War of Independence - there has been a special drawing by the state lottery company “Loterias y Apuestas del Estado”.

It has now been held in Madrid for more than 100 years and has been broadcast live on TV since 1967 and now also on the Internet, the entire event lasts three and a half hours.

Half the population is there live, around 90 percent of the Spaniards play.

The drawing of the Spanish Christmas lottery will not be broadcast live on German television.

However, if you don't want to miss the spectacle, you have the opportunity to follow the whole thing over the Internet.

RTVE, the public broadcaster in Spain, will not only broadcast the event on TV, but also via livestream in the media library.

"El Gordo": This is how the Spanish Christmas lottery works

There are two lot drums.

Wooden balls with the ticket numbers fall from an enormously large one, and from the other one significantly smaller wooden balls that indicate the associated winnings.

This happens at the same time.

It is therefore by no means certain when the main prizes will be drawn, which is where the event draws its suspense.

The highlight: both the digits and the prize are sung by children from the CEIP San Ildefonso School.

It is the second oldest school in Madrid and once mainly taught orphans.

Since they were expected to be less prone to fraud, the collaboration came about.

Objects of desire: These wooden balls inform about the winnings.

© JUAN CARLOS HIDALGO / dpa

"El Gordo": Lots with five-digit numbers can also be purchased proportionally

Believe it or not, 2.4 billion euros will be distributed in 2021.

There are a total of 100,000 five-digit ticket numbers - from 00000 to 99999. Participants can buy whole tickets at a price of 200 euros, the particularly popular tenth tickets - the “Décimos” - are therefore available for 20 euros.

The prices vary on the Internet, there are already 249.99 euros called, a hundredth ticket is available for around 4.99 euros.

However, discount campaigns are also repeatedly offered.

Often, syndicates are formed - so the joy is ultimately shared, but perhaps all the greater.

It should be noted that each lot exists 172 times, which means that there can be dozens of main winners.

"El Gordo": The term only describes the main prize of the Christmas lottery - in 2021 that will be 172 times four million euros

Whereby we are on a widespread mistake: Because the lottery itself is not called "El Gordo" (in German: "The fat one"), behind this term simply hides the main prize.

This jackpot promises four million euros this year - and it will be distributed to up to 172 players or communities.

Already makes a sum of 688 million euros - almost a third of the total amount awarded.

The portal "lottohelden.de" indicates that the chance of winning this Spanish special draw is significantly higher than, say, the classic "6 out of 49" in Germany.

The chances of "El Gordo" are therefore 1: 100,000, which is 1400 times more promising than the counterpart known in this country.

"El Gordo": Win in 17 classes - a highlight is "El Pedrea"

On average, every sixth ticket wins.

More than 15,000 prizes will be awarded in 17 classes.

In addition to “El Gordo”, there are categories two to five, for example - another 452 million euros are available here.

The second highest win is 1.25 million euros, then it goes over 500,000 and 200.00 down to 60,000 euros.

Then there is “El Pedrea”, which means something like hail or falling rocks.

Here, 309 million euros will be distributed in small four-digit sums - 1794 times.

So the money is pouring down on the participants.

Not without: The 100,000 ticket numbers are mixed up in this lottery drum.

© JUAN CARLOS HIDALGO / dpa

"El Gordo": The smallest prize category in the Christmas lottery has a ten percent chance of winning

The other eleven prize categories include another 960 million euros - starting with 20,000, over 12,500 and 9600 euros.

In addition, there are 1000 euros each if the ticket number is directly before or after "El Gordo", the second prize or the third prize, the first three digits are analogous to one of the first four prizes or the last two digits are one of the first three prizes correspond.

If only the last digit is analogous to “El Gordo”, that brings you 200 euros.

The chance of winning for this is therefore ten percent.

It should be noted, however, that the total is based on a full ticket, with partial tickets the profit is reduced accordingly.

All in all, we have 1807 profits plus additional distributions.

It is only important to redeem the tickets no later than three months after the drawing.

Otherwise the prize will be forfeited.

"El Gordo": Participation from Germany is also possible - in 2015 the main prize of the Christmas lottery went to Wolfsburg

You can also play from Germany, because the tickets can also be purchased online.

Various well-known lottery providers take part.

Caution is advised: dubious offers are to be expected on the Internet, in which gullible people are only supposed to have their money stolen from their pockets.

Registration closes on December 22nd at 8 a.m.

The drawing starts at 9 a.m. on the same day.

Participants are advised to check the overview of the winning numbers again after the drawing, as the numerous prizes make it possible to miss a profit during the conference.

Good to know: In Germany lottery winnings do not have to be taxed, so the retained profit tax can be reclaimed from the Spanish tax office.

In 2015, a group from Wolfsburg was able to look forward to four million euros - thanks to “El Gordo”.