Christmas is coming and in Spain the countdown has started to the famous draw of El Gordo, the Spanish Lottery, which takes place on the 22nd of December every year.
There is much reason for the excitement around the El Gordo as it is the biggest lottery in the world, with R51,9 billion up for grabs in collective prize money! In Spanish "El Gordo" means "The Big Fat One", and in lottery terms, "El Gordo" refers to the payout - the biggest, fattest prize of them all, with a draw that takes place only once a year.
Good news for South Africans is that you now have the opportunity to place your bet on the El Gordo on the Lottoland.co.za platform. It’s very easy, using your smart phone, laptop or desktop computer, and because El Gordo works more like a traditional raffle than a regular lottery, more than 1800 numbers are drawn.
Tickets cost R80 each and even if you don’t win ‘the fat one’, there is a massive 1-in-7 chance of winning as every bet placed stands a chance to win a prize between €200 and €4 million.
Watch the video below to find out more about El Gordo:
There is rich history behind the tradition of El Gordo, which was started back in 1812 when the Spanish government set it up to raise money for the Spanish troops fighting against Napoleon's armies. This year, the 210th draw will take place on the 22nd of December, once again as a live event on Spanish TV.
The draw is made by children who are students at the San Ildefonso Elementary School in Madrid. There are no lottery balls, instead, there are two huge drums that contain all the purchased tickets – just like a raffle.
The school used to be an orphanage and legend has it that the orphans used to walk through the streets of the city singing Christmas carols. The city officials allocated the important task of drawing the winning numbers to the orphans and this tradition continues even today.
During the telecast the children reach into two large vessels onstage and pull out one small wooden ball at a time from each: one with the ticket number, and one with the prize money to be associated with that number.
As they pick the numbers and prizes, they sing them out loud. Players win a prize if the numbers on their ticket match those on a ticket drawn from the drum.
Lottoland South Africa guarantees that winners will be paid out on their winnings in line with the pay-out tables published by each individual operator for every single event. The aim is to put the player in the same economic positions that they would have been, if they participated in the actual event overseas and won any of the prize tiers or pay-out divisions.
For smaller prize tier payments Lottoland SA makes the payment directly from the fund generated by the total stakes collected. To make the larger prize tier payments we, Lottoland holds insurance policies to cover the eventuality of a maximum payout win.
Get into the spirit of Christmas and visit the Lottoland South Africa platform today to place your bet on this unique lottery today!
THIS IS HOW IT WORKS
- Fixed odds betting is when you place a bet on lottoland.co.za on the outcome of the numbers that you think will be drawn in a specific local or international draw.
- You can therefore indirectly take part in any of these ‘big win’ international draws, without even being in that country.
- If you guess correctly, Lottoland will match the main prizes and pay the same amount to you as the official winning lottery draw pay out.
- Lottoland payouts are guaranteed as the company is registered and regulated by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board
- Winnings are paid out into your nominated bank account in South Africa.
HOW TO BET ON LOTTOLAND SOUTH AFRICA
Visit lottoland.co.za
- Register with SA ID Number or passport number, in less than 2 minutes
- Once you have successfully registered, choose a product to bet on
- There are 6 options to pay for your bet: Visa / Master Card / Snap Scan / Zapper / 1Voucher / SID EFT
- You can also do a direct deposit, but this will take 24 hours to reflect in our account and will thus only show in your Lottoland account 24 hours after you made the direct deposit.
- How do I claim my winnings? When logged in click on My Account and then on Payout. Click on Add account details ZA
- Your funds will then be transferred into your account. (Usually within 24 – 72 hours)