The Christmas Lottery ends... And the Lottery of El Niño begins!

This Thursday, December 22nd, all the winning numbers of the famous Christmas Lottery, one of the oldest in the world and the one that distributes the most prizes, were announced. The number 05490 was crowned as the winner of the night with the first prize of the Christmas Gordo, which gave about 400,000 euros to each of the players who bought a tenth with that number.

And now that the Extraordinary Christmas Draw has passed, it is time to put the rematch in the next Extraordinary Draw of the Lottery of El Niño, to be held on Friday, January 6, 2023 starting at 12.00 noon (GMT+1).

But, why is it called Lottery of El Niño?, how can I get a ticket?, how do I play it?, what are the prizes it distributes? Read on to find out all the details.

What is the Lottery of El Niño?

'Lotería del Niño' is the name given in Spain to the Extraordinary Draw of 'El Niño' held every January 6th by the National Lottery. Held on that date to commemorate the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord and the arrival of the Three Wise Men, it is the second most important lottery in Spain after the Christmas Lottery, which takes place every December 22nd.

Its origin dates back to 1879, when it was held for the first time under the name of "Rifa Nacional del Niño" in order to raise money for the construction of a children's hospital: from there it takes its name to the present day of Lotería del Niño (Children's Lottery).

The Lottery of El Niño has a very similar format to the Christmas Lottery: also here the famous children of San Idelfonso are in charge of singing the results of the draw; and the prizes that are distributed are very similar, although with smaller amounts than those of the Christmas Lottery. In this 80th edition of the El Niño Draw, a total of 700 million euros in prizes will be distributed.

How to play the Lottery of El Niño?

As in the rest of the National Lottery draws, the Lottery of El Niño is played by buying a tenth, which is made up of a 5-digit number that can go from 00000 to 99999.

The ticket is known as a tenth, since when you buy one, you are not buying the whole series, but a tenth part of it. Each ticket is then the set formed by ten tickets of the same number and the same series. You can buy all of them or just one tenth: the difference will be that, if you buy just one tenth, you will get only one tenth of the prize.

The tickets to participate in the Lottery of El Niño draw are already on sale and you can get yours from here. It is important to point out that your tenth of the Lottery of El Niño does not participate in the rest of the draws of the National Lottery that are celebrated until the date of the Extraordinary Draw.

Which are the prizes of the Lottery of El Niño?

As it happens with the Christmas Lottery, the Lottery of El Niño has also become popular because of the amount of prizes it distributes: there are in total 700 million euros at stake, distributed in 3 main prizes and thousands of secondary prizes.

The first prize of the Lottery of El Niño of next January 6, 2023 is 2 million euros to the series, equivalent to 200,000 euros per tenth. The second prize is 750,000 euros per series, equivalent to 75,000 euros per tenth. Finally, the third prize is 250,000 euros per series, equivalent to 25,000 euros per tenth.

But in addition to these three main prizes, there are secondary prizes, such as extractions of 4, 3 and 2 digits, the approximations to the first and second prizes, the hundreds of the 3 prizes, the last 3 digits of the first and second prizes, the last two digits of the first prize and the reintegros, which allow you to recover the amount played if the last digit of your number coincides with the last digit of any of the 3 main prizes.

In the following table, we detail all the prizes by category, as well as the amount that they distribute:

What are the odds of winning the Lottery of El Niño?

The odds of hitting a winning tenth of the first prize of the "El Niño" lottery are 1 in 100,000. However, taking into account all the prizes that are distributed in this draw, including the 3 possible reinstegros, they are 7.82% chance of winning something in total.

When is the Loteria del Niño draw held?

The El Niño Extraordinary Draw will be held on Friday, January 6th from 12:00 noon (GMT+1), and you will be able to buy your tickets at Lottofy until 10:30 (GMT+1) of the same day. Don't miss yours!