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Introduction: The Spanish Lottery – One of the Best in the World

The Spanish Lottery is one of the world’s most famous, thanks to its huge prizes and the fact there are a crazy number of lotteries to play. Probably on of the most famous one’s is their Christmas Lottery. Its origins go back to 1812 and everyone has an eye on its mega prize. As far as state lottery’s go, it’s considered to be one of the largest in the world.

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History of the Spanish Lottery

The first Spanish lottery was called “Lotería por Números” and was established in 1763 by King Carlos III. it was created as a means of charity, though we’re sure the King collected plenty of new tax from it! This was the very first version of the Primitiva. Presently all lotteries that are run by the Spanish state fall under the control of the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. in 1812, they took over the Spanish Christmas lottery which is called the Loteria De Navidad. In the same year, they also released a new game called the Modern Lottery.

Thanks to Spanish lottery restrictions which were put into place in 1862, only three lotteries remained unaffected. These were the Modern Lottery, El Nino and the Loteria De Navidad. Finally in 1985, La Primitiva returned and was once again a huge hit with the general public. Thanks to its performance, a new lottery called the Bonoloto was released in 1988. A few years later and yet another one entered the fray. This was El Gordo which was born in 1993.

Since then, technology has been marching forwards at an ever quickening pace. Thanks also to the growth of the European Union, more lotteries were introduced across the continent. These include the Euromillions and the Eurojackpot. Both these lotteries pull players from around the whole of Europe, thus allowing for massive prizes.

Spanish Christmas Lotteries

At Christmas time in Spain, there are actually two large lotteries. One is the Loteria de Navidad which was organised by the King of Spain, King Carlos III, in 1763. As the draw takes place just before Christmas, many in Spain view it as the start of the Christmas celebrations. The second Spanish Lottery is called “Loteria Del Nino” or the lottery of the boy, referring to the baby Jesus. This lottery takes place towards the other end of the festive holidays, on New Year’s Eve. Let’s look at them both in more detail.

Spanish lottery
The Spanish Lottery: Which are your favourite numbers?

Loteria de Navidad

The Spanish Christmas Lottery is played by people all over the world. In the UK and the rest of Europe, the idea of winning its life-altering prize has huge appeal. For many years, the price has gone north of €2 billion. With the draw always on the same date, the 22nd of December, it marks the beginning of all the Spanish Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. The lottery even survived during the Civil War and many other obstacles over the years. You have a great chance to win the jackpot online when you buy your Spanish Christmas Lottery tickets with the Lotta.

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Loteria Del Nino

Compared to the above, any other lottery is going to appear to be much smaller. The Loteria Del Nino is actually large at €700 million. The draw takes place on the same day every year, the 6th of January. In Spain, they say that the Three Kings visited Christ on that day. It’s called “Los Reyes”, meaning “King’s Day.” The lottery was first organised in 1941, as a way of celebrating the holiday. It’s since become Spain’s second biggest lottery.

La Primitiva

This Spanish lottery was an offshoot of the Loteria de Navidad which began with King Carlos III in 1763. Up until 1812 it was known as Lotería por Números and afterwards renamed to La Primitiva. A few decades later, in 1862, the Spanish Lottery was all but banned. It was to remain so until 1985 when it was reinstated. La Primitiva is played as a 6/49 draw. meaning that in order to win, you’ll need to correctly guess 6 numbers from a total of 49. There’s an additional pick from 0 – 9 which is called reintegro, or “refund” number. With this number you can win further prizes of 2nd and 3rd place. The actual draw is bi-weekly and the prizes start at around €5 million.

El Gordo

El Gordo is also called El Gordo La Primitiva. The actual term “El Godo” means “the fat one”. It was started in 1993 and was originally drawn once a month. But it’s populaity saw that change and now the draw is every Sunday. Here you’ll be needing to select your choices from 1 – 54 numbers, plus the additional reintegro from 1 – 9 numbers. In order to win the jackpot, you’ll want to match all 5 numbers, plus the reintegro. This will increase your jackpot winning chances. It’s quite possible to still win a prize even if all your numbers fail, but the reintegro is a winner.

Spanish lottery
Spanish lotteries are world-famous – Image source: Flickr

Bonoloto

This low cost lottery was started by the Loterías y Apuestas del Estado in 1988. The draws are daily except for Sundays. The ticket prices are kept deliberately cheap. This means that the prizes are worth much less than other lotteries. The draw format is 6/49, but there’s an additional number called “Complementario” (complimentary) and this is used for the granting of secondary prizes. In order to win the”Bonoloto” or jackpot, you need to guess just the 6 original numbers.

EuroMillions Spain

This lottery was originally a product of the French. Launched in 2004, and introduce to the UK, Spanish and French fans in the same year, it later went on to see popularity in other European countries like Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, and others. The EuroMillions ticket is the same price across the continent at €2.50. The drawing format is 5/50. So you’ll need to chose 5 numbers out of the total of 50, plus 2 more lucky numbers from a pool of 12 extra numbers. We like to use theLotter to look after our ticket purchases. They are fast and reliable.

EuroJackpot Spain

This Europe wide lottery was launched on 2012, and within a year saw 19 different European countries playing. The actual lottery is managed by Germany and Denmark, where it’s called the “Euro-lottery”. There are weekly draws and the normal prize hoovers around €10 million. But there are also other prizes formed into a list of 12 tiers. The EuroJackpot drawing format is 5/50 with a couple of extra numbers ranging from 0 – 10. Take a look back at the latest prizes, and you’ll see that they fall between 10 and 90 million Euros.

Additional Information: Spanish Lottery Results, Odds & Taxes

Interestingly enough, for a number of lotteries that offer such huge prizes, there’s no official Spanish lottery website promoting them. But if you trawl through some media and newspaper websites, then you can find information among the latest lottery news about previous winners. As for calculating the Spanish lottery odds, that’s not easy either. Everything will depend on the size of the jackpot as well as the initial price of the ticket. For example, the chance of grabbing the first prize in the Bonoloto is 1:13,983,816. But you have to consider that the prizes on offer are much smaller than those found with El Gordo and La Primitiva. The lottery odds for these are 1:31,625,100 and 1:139,838,160 respectively.

Spanish lottery
The Spanish Lottery: Good luck!

You can increase you odds of winning by buying more tickets. We suggest using theLotter as the way to buy your tickets online the whole process is quick and easy to follow.

The Spanish Lottery: Play From Outside Spain

All foreigners can have a go at the Spanish lottery. If you happen to be in Spain, simply buy a ticket at the many kiosks. If you’re outside, then go online for your ticket purchase and increse your chance to win the jackpot. One thing worth mentioning, and that’s taxation. In Spain, there are to tax brackets, tax-free below €4000 and 20% tax on everything above. If you’re a foreigner playing the Spanish lottery, then be aware that the 20% will apply to all winnings above €2500.

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