A post by Hannah Michaelsen: Hannah is a mum of two and part time blogger. When she’s not running around after the kids she loves writing, walking her dog, Sid, and going on the odd shopping spree. Like most of us, she often imagines what it would be like to win the lottery; a new car, new house and all the shopping trips she could want! We can all dream!
An early Christmas present from Spain?
Already, we’re in the thick of Christmas shopping time. You’ll doubtless have those annoying friends who say they’ve done it all already – and even written their Christmas cards. Well, it takes all sorts to make a world and not everyone can be that organised.
But here’s an easy gift that doesn’t take any effort to arrange. Buy your family a ticket for the Spanish Christmas lottery, the Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad, and you could all be jackpot winners by Christmas Day.
You see the National Christmas Lottery in Spain is run differently to other lotteries. For one thing, it only takes place once a year, on 22 December, just days before Christmas. And the chances of winning are much better too – 1 in 100,000 chance of hitting the jackpot – El Gordo as it’s better known (and for people who don’t know any Spanish this translates to the ‘fat one’, appropriately enough!)
Better odds mean that the jackpots aren’t quite as big as you’d get elsewhere, but we’re still talking life-changing amounts. The way the Spanish Christmas lottery works is that there are only a limited number of tickets with a five digit number. The same tickets are then printed 160 times, so any winning ticket will have to be shared amongst the number of people who’ve purchased it.
Buying a full ticket costs €20 and for many players, that’s too much. So instead it’s far more common to buy a ‘participation’ where people can buy a ‘décimo’ (a tenth) of a ticket. Many employers in Spain will buy a number of tickets that their employees can then buy an even smaller participation in. A lottery that’s run this way seems a lot more community-spirited than other types of lotto. It’s not about one person winning a mega jackpot all to themselves. When you play the Spanish lottery, you know that if you win, a lot of other people will be winning too.
It used to be that the Spanish Christmas lottery was only open to Spanish residents, but thanks to the internet and sites like Lottoland, UK residents can now take part in it too. A Spanish Christmas lotto ticket, or participation therein, makes for a great little early Christmas present to buy the family. But don’t delay – this is a lottery that sells out well before the draw date. Get your tickets today, and you and your family could be in for an even merrier Christmas!
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