Spains biggest lottery - El Gordo

There are only 10 days left until the world's biggest lottery is drawn on 22nd December.  El Gordo, meaning "the fat one" is an annual event held in Spain and sends Spaniards into a frenzy. I have never known such a gambling nation ... queues form outside lottery shops and kiosks daily in the lead-up to the day.

There 2 shops on the Avd. Mediterraneo in Benidorm and 1 small kiosk/shop on the Calle Gambo - the walking street in the Old Town which are the most popular. People spend literally hundreds of euro's on lottery tickets for this one.

The El Gordo dates back to 1812 so has a long history and tradition. The Spanish lottery operator gives 70% of the revenue from ticket sales to the prize jackpot fund... meaning the more people that play the bigger the jackpot. The estimated jackpot this year is in the region of €2.52 BILLION - so not suprising that the locals go abit mad.Tickets are sold online to more than 100 countries and are purchased by four out of five Spanish residents - all hoping to win "a slice of hope" in these troubled economic times.

 But the tickets are very expensive in comparisson to the normal lottery, costing 200€ to purchase the entire ticket. The tickets are divided into 10 sections, known as "decimos" and cost 20€ each enabling you to purcahse part of a ticket. If that number is drawn you will therefore receive one tenth or how ever many sections you have bought of the prize fund. This is the time when many neighbours, friends, clubs and penyas form syndicates to purchase their tickets giving them a greater chance of winning.

The odds of winning are certainly in your favour as one out of every three tickets sold win something.

Long televised draw process

El Gordo tickets are printed as 5 digit numbers ranging from 00000 to 99999 and many people trawl around the lottery shops looking for their "lucky numbers" - possibly in the form of a memorable date. The actual draw takes hours to complete as there are thousands of prizes to be won and is televised live on Spanish TV stations .

They have 2 huge spheres - one contains wooden balls with the 5 digit numbers on them and the second  has balls with the prize value on. A child stands next to each sphere (quite an honour to be picked) and as the ball is drawn the child takes the ball over to a table where the official lottery observers and members of the lottery commision sit to officially record the numbers drawn. The balls are then placed into special racks and kept on display.