If you are new to the Elgordo lottery, let me highlight just how important this lotto is to a large percentage of Spaniards. The El Gordo lottery has been a national obsession in Spain since way back in December 1812 with massive appeal generated by the Christmas draw every year. In fact, 98% of the population play this Spanish National lottery every Christmas.

There are a number of major reasons why so many Spanish nationals partake in the Christmas El Gordo draw. Firstly, there is the incentive of the largest lottery prize fund of any worldwide lottery game - 2.20 Billion Euros! Secondly, there are in excess of 13,000 cash prizes to be won. Finally, the odds of collecting a cash prize in the Christmas draw are a highly achievable 1 in 6.

With the amount of interest that is paid to the Christmas El Gordo lottery draw, lots of individuals are not even aware that there are five more El Gordo draws each year as well. These take place in January, March, May, July and November. Although these 5 draws do not enjoy the incredible prize fund of the Christmas game, they are considerable nonetheless, ranging from 78 million Euros to 655 million Euros. Furthermore, these games offer almost 3 times as many prizes as the Christmas draw and odds of collecting a cash prize of an incredible 1 in 3.

The Spanish Christmas Lottery works differently to the majority of other worldwide lotteries. A whole ticket 'billete' is very pricey, costing 200 Euros. However, these tickets are split up into ten 'decimos' (tenths) costing 20 Euros each. When purchasing your tickets you have the option of purchasing one decimo, a complete ticket, or a portion of a ticket. If you do not purchase the whole ticket, someone else will purchase the remainder of your ticket. For example, if you purchase two decimos, someone else buys three and another buys five decimos and your ticket scoops 1000 Euros, then you will secure 200 Euros, 300 Euros and 500 Euros respectively. Due to the price tag of buying an entire ticket, it is typical for families and friends to pool their lottery funds and each person purchase a single 'decimo' (tenth).