The annual Christmas-time lottery’s winners are announced on 22 December
I always believed in the adage that lotteries are for those who can’t do the math. That is, the chance of winning the big jackpot is infinitesimally small. However, on this Saturday, the cycling group indulged in the yearly ritual of purchasing an El Gordo entry.
For a quick overview, El Gordo or the Fat One, is a state-run lottery held at various times throughout the year. The biggest prizes are awarded for the Spanish Christmas Lottery.
So, on the Saturday before the big drawing, the team stopped in Cullera to purchase an entry. Well, a tenth of one. The single ticket price is 200 euros. We, as a group of 20, bought the décimo or tenth, which (doing the math) is 20 euros. So one sliver of a chance cost one euro. Such a bargain.
For that single euro coin, I bought into the dream of quitting my job and living abroad. Wait, that’s already happened. So this is just for fun, right?
Want to know more? Here are some good explanations:
From the Catalan News website: Spain’s Christmas lottery – How does it work?
And for those who want to see the math, these are the official odds of winning: How to play El Gordo of la Primitiva
TL;DR: For the big prize, it’s a 1 in 31,625,100 chance. And it’s O.K. for foreign nationals to play (and theoretically win).
UPDATE
For most of those who entered, it’s back to work. The winners were announced and you can read about it here: Top prize, known as El Gordo or the Fat One, won by ticket holders in the northern city of Logroño
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