El Gordo de la Primitiva

El Gordo de la Primitiva - not just for Spaniards

If you’ve often played the lotto, you’ve probably heard for the El Gordo de la Primitiva. This Spanish lottery is famous not just in Spain, but all across the word. When translated, the El Gordo de la Primitiva means, ‘the fat one of the primitive’ – but is often known as the big one. And boy, this lottery sure is big in every way.

Firstly, the El Gordo de la Primitiva is one of Spain’s oldest traditions. Since its launch three centuries ago, the El Gordo de la Primitiva has grown to become a popular custom amongst Spaniards. Every Christmas season, millions of people crowd around their televisions and radio sets to see if they will be lucky as the year closes. Their hope is not unmerited.

With prizes worth over €2.6 billion—a return of 70% of emission sales, the El Gordo de la Primitiva is undoubtedly the biggest lottery in the world. The El Gordo is organized with the support of the Spanish Government. This further enhances its security. The lottery system utilizes a five number system. To this end, only numbers between 00000 and 99999 are up for sale. To further widen the pool, the El Gordo de la Primitiva permits the reselling of numbers. A number can be sold as much as 195 times during the build up to the finale.

With this high purchase ratio, a wide margin is ensured for possible winnings. When a ticket number wins the grand price, it automatically means 195 tickets have won the grand price. This fact becomes even more important when the use of syndications is taken into consideration. Because of the high cost of an individual ticket - almost €200, the tickets can be sold in fractions. An individual can thus purchase as many fractions as they can afford and then leave the rest for someone else. Ultimately this means that the first price can be shared amongst 195 winners. El Gordo de la Primitiva is the only lottery that offers these odds.

The same ratio affects the second, third and fourth prize. Summed up, the El Gordo de la Primitiva pays out thousands in prizes every year. The prizes are paid out tax free as well.

The results of the lottery are traditionally sung by children in a chant that sounds almost Gregorian. The event is broadcasted over the media—covered by both television and radio stations. At the end of the results, because of the interesting factors involved in ticket purchase, winners are usually found to congregate in certain areas of Spain.

It is not uncommon for a village, whose inhabitants share the proceeds of a ticket, to be bestowed with an extremely large Christmas gift. Every year people’s lives are affected and changed.

And that is what the fat one of the primitiva lottery is all about.