The Christmas Lottery, which is a draw that brings the most joy to Spaniards, is a date on all calendars. A large number of people watch to see if their number gets sung by San Ildefonso’s children every December 22. If there is one prize that brings the most joy, it is “El Gordo”. This number surprises everyone and causes a commotion that raises the decibels in the room as people wait to find out who the winner will be.
The Christmas Lottery Gordo is the first prize. This prize allows us to win the most money. The prize is currently 400,000 euros if you take a tenth. The amount has fluctuated over time due to currency changes.
Christmas Lottery was established in 1812. The history of the Christmas Jackpot is extensive. That year, the prize was 8,000 pesos. This was enough to purchase two Madrid houses. The prize was worth approximately 300,000 reales in 1870. Participation cost only 10 reales.
The prize was increased with the advent of the 20th century. Tickets were sold at 100 pesetas and ‘El Gordo’ distributed 6,000,000 pesetas each ticket. The prize was approximately 12 million pesetas during the Republic, while participation in the Christmas Lottery was 100 pesetas. The amount of the first prize was changed in Civil War. It became 30 million pesetas in 1957.
The prizes increased and El Gordo was now 250 million pesetas a ticket. This was equivalent to 2.5 million pesetas a tenth. Before the introduction of the euro, the prize was 3,000,000 pesetas. The first currency exchange was introduced to Spain in 2002. It was worth 200,000 euros per tenth. This figure was increased to 300,000. in 2005. The famous 4,000,000 euro per issue, or 400,000 per tenth, was only implemented in 2011.