How The El Gordo Differs From Traditional Lotteries

The plan of this piece of writing is to highlight some of the major differences between popular traditional lottery games and the world renowned El Gordo.

In a standard lottery game a player is generally required to choose a series of numbers from a particular number range as well as an additional bonus number.  For example, in the UK National lotto a player has to choose 6 main numbers from 1-49 inclusive and then a further bonus number from the same range.  To secure the jackpot, a player needs to match all of their six main selected numbers with those numbers drawn.  If there is no single ticket matching all the drawn numbers in a given week, the top prize is rolled over to the subsequent week growing in size as it does so.

The December Spanish El Gordo draw is very different in this area; there are only a certain number of tickets made available for this draw and as a result, winners are guaranteed in every draw. 

The cost of buying a full El Gordo ticket (Billete) is also vastly different from acquiring a ticket in a typical lotto game, like the UK lottery.  Purchasing a ticket for a single UK lotto draw costs a British resident just 1 pound.  El Gordo tickets will, however, set you back 200 Euros each.  Owing to the substantial expense of partaking in this lottery game, complete tickets are divided into ten parts (Decimos) costing a more affordable 20 Euros.  It is consequently fairly common for groups of friends or family members to split the cost of an entire El Gordo lotto ticket in order to make the game a more workable proposition.

In the UK lotto a very small percentage of people ever win considerable amounts of money, with the majority left disappointed week in week out.  The El Gordo lotto on the other hand gives that winning feeling to a much larger number of individuals.  In the 2006 El Gordo draw, 3 million Euros were paid out to each of the 180 winning billetes.  In the 2005 draw, the winning number was sold in the town of Vic in Catalonia (population 37,825), whose inhabitants collected in the region of 500 million Euros.

The El Gordo also delivers considerably better odds of securing a cash win compared to that of the UK lotto; with the El Gordo lottery you have a very good 1 in 6 chance of grabbing a cash payout compared to 1 in 52 when participating in the UK lottery.  

When participating in lottery games like the UK lottery, fresh lotto tickets are made available every time a pound is spent meaning that tickets never run out for any of the weekly draws.  The El Gordo is vastly different because only a certain amount of tickets are ever printed and once they are all sold no more will become available.

The Elgordo not only generates huge excitement in its native Spain but now all over the world owing to the ever increasing number of web-based lottery ticket sales agents.  It is therefore imperative that you pick up your desired number of lotto tickets as soon as they are released, to avoid disappointment.