Comments on: Spaniards are “loco” for the lottery

By: Valencia Blog

Valencia Blog — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:18:45 +0000

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

By: Victor

Victor — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:45:58 +0000

Thank you! The beginning is hard! hahahah But I’ll do my best! Thanks again!

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:23:47 +0000

@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.

By: Victor

Victor — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:30:25 +0000

Hi Chris! I’ve just started a blog. If you want to come and have a look…
http://uvepece.wordpress.com/
Thanks!

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:04:39 +0000

@Chris (08/12) Tradition always results in popularity! Just look at people homes during the festive holidays!

By: Victor

Victor — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:58:36 +0000

Exactly! If you get “El Gordo de Navidad” means that you get the first prize or the biggest one in the Christmas drawing.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:23:52 +0000

@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.

By: Ashleigh

Ashleigh — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:17:44 +0000

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!

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:11:07 +0000

@Victor – Thanks for your explanation. It’s funny that the whole reason it’s so popular is simply “tradition.”

By: Victor

Victor — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:53:44 +0000

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