The Spanish Christmas Lottery (Sorteo de Navidad)

• Is a national lottery game organized every year since 1812, the name Sorteo de Navidad was used for the first time in 1892. As measured by the total prize payout, the Christmas Lottery is considered the biggest lottery worldwide.

• The Christmas Lottery is based on tickets which have 5-digit numbers, just like the regular drawing of the Spanish national lottery. Due to the enormous popularity of the game, each set of numbers on each of the tickets is sold multiple times, in several so-called "series". Moreover, since an entire ticket (called billete) is quite expensive, the tickets are usually sold as tenths (called decimos).You can purchase yours by contacting one of Algorfa association.

Spanish christmas lottery

• On a private basis, or through Algorfa associations and other organizations, it is also possible to buy even smaller participations of one ticket if you share a decimo with a family member or neighbor. Usually, the price of those participations is incremented by a supplement that is paid as a donation to the Algorfa association, normally 3€, this making the total decimo 23€.

• The exact quantity of tickets and series, as well as their price and the exact distribution of prizes, may be different each year. For example, in 2004, there were exactly 66,000 different numbers in 195 series. In 2005, there were 85,000 numbers in 170 series, whereas in 2006 the number of series was increased to 180. The price of an entire ticket (billete) was 200€, a tenth (decimo) was 20€.

• According to reports in the press, about 98% of all Spanish people hold at least a small participation of a lottery ticket in the Christmas Lottery each year (this includes tickets purchased or received as a gift). Tickets may be available each year as early as August.

• In 2005 Algorfa claimed third prize giving each lucky purchaser approximately 33.0000€ per decimo, this was a day to remember here in Algorfa as the TV and press arrived in droves and the Champaign flowed throughout the night.