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Signs advertising the Christmas Lottery are EVERYWHERE in Burgos.
I was walking home from a class tonight when I noticed a small “pattern” start to emerge: lighted signs advertising the “Christmas Lottery” were on just about every street corner. I always knew that Spaniards were a little crazy about their “Lotería de Navidad;” but, I guess I’ve never before noticed the extremes to which the craziness goes.
If you’re not familiar with the Christmas Lottery in Spain, it’s basically a huge lottery drawing held around Christmas that the entire country buys a ticket for (or maybe two tickets, or sometimes three tickets, and there are probably cases of people buying four tickets, or five, but certainly not more than six… or seven). The truth is that the popularity of this lottery is unbelievable.
Since I’m not Spanish, I don’t totally understand the attraction to the Christmas Lottery — I suppose your odds of winning are higher or the jackpot is bigger, but since I don’t play I’m not really sure. In any event, I can tell you that people stand in long lines to buy Christmas Lottery tickets at places where winning tickets have been sold in the past and, in general, the entire population goes “crazy” buying up all the tickets in existence in places like tobacco shops, bars, and official lottery retail outlets.
So, if you’re Spanish and you’ve bought a ticket for the Christmas Lottery this year, let me wish you all the “suerte” in the world… and please, do leave me a comment explaining what you think is the attraction to the Christmas Lottery in Spain. I guess Americans like me just don’t understand this type of thing.
Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com
Hahahahaha That’s funny!
In fact it has nothing to do with big jackpots nor possibilities… You can earn much more money with any other lottery around the year (Euromillones, primitiva…) It’s just some kind of “tradition” for spaniards. We use to buy lottery tickets and share them with family and friends.
And then, there’s another point. Almost every bussiness (cafés, shops etc…) sells “participaciones” which are lottery tickets with a lower price (they divide the tickets or décimos into smaller tickets). People usually buy some participaciones at the places they use to go because: “Y si le toca a todo el mundo menos a mi..”/”If everybody gets some money and I don’t…” (You’ll hear this more than once these days hahahah)
Most of the people who don’t buy any lottery throughout the year buy some at Christmas (some, as me, “obliged” because your family shares some décimos with you and you “have to” buy some for them.)
In fact, I don’t like Christmas lottery at all!! hahahah
@Victor – Thanks for your explanation. It’s funny that the whole reason it’s so popular is simply “tradition.”
Is the the “El Gordo” drawing my son came home from school talking about. It made me think that it was a BIG jackpot too. There lining up in Madrid as well. Thanks for the explanation, Victor!
@Ashleigh – Yes, that probably was the “gordo” prize your son was talking about. But be careful, the term “premio gordo” is used a lot in Spanish and it really just means “first prize.” It doesn’t necessarily imply that it’s a BIG first prize. It’s just big in comparison to the other prizes.
Exactly! If you get “El Gordo de Navidad” means that you get the first prize or the biggest one in the Christmas drawing.
@Chris (08/12) Tradition always results in popularity! Just look at people homes during the festive holidays!
Hi Chris! I’ve just started a blog. If you want to come and have a look…
http://uvepece.wordpress.com/
Thanks!
@Dave – Yes, you have a good point there.
@Victor – The site looks great! I’ll be sure to check back as you add more posts! Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.
Thank you! The beginning is hard! hahahah But I’ll do my best! Thanks again!
We played the El Gordo now for the second time and watch the over 3 hour drawing on TV. We bought tickets together with friends. Chances you win a good amount of money are pretty high (even though we never got that lucky. The other thing is that the winning number will exist multiple times (hundreds, I think) so it happens that a small town turns in to a super rich town on El Gordo day, since everyone bought the same number from the local stand.
Give it a try next year. It’s fun
Excellent blog and nice articles . I have an blog with some similar template but it is related to eye exam coupons
Nice blog man. I don’t know about in Spain, but I would sure love to win the lottery here in the states!