Spain’s ‘Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad’ (Christmas Lottery), operated by the State Society for State Lotteries and Bets (SELAE), has announced it will pay out a total of €2.41bn in prizes this year, with the annual draw taking place on December 22.
President of SELAE Jesús Huerta Almendro made the announcement during a virtual press conference, adding that the lottery’s campaign will be broadcasted in the media in the coming weeks with the slogan ‘sharing as always, sharing as never before’.
Almendro said: “Although this Christmas will be different, there are elements and customs that always remain. One of them is our Christmas Lottery. One of our most deeply rooted traditions, which has been accompanying us one generation after another for more than two centuries, and which gives us that much-needed hope in these difficult times.”
The president also highlighted that SELAE, a non-profit company that returns its revenues to Spanish society ‘is not alien to the situation we live in, because it affects our daily lives’.
“For this reason, we were very clear that we must reclaim the common values that Loterías shares with citizens. So this year’s campaign focuses on the positives that must be taken out of difficult times,” he added.
A total of 172 million tickets will be available for purchase, consisting of 172 series of 100,000 numbers each, with each ticket split into tenths for sale.
One tenth of a ticket sells for €20, meaning total sales will be equal to €3.44bn, of which 70% will be paid in prizes.
The first prize, popularly known as ‘El Gordo’, is worth €400,000 per tenth of a ticket, the second prize is valued at €125,000, and the third prize will total €50,000 per tenth.
Prizes will be paid out to the corresponding ticket holders in each of the 172 series for each winning combination, meaning the top prize is likely to pay out €688m across all series.