The Ultimate Guide to Playing Spanish Lotteries
Spain is one of the countries with the longest lottery tradition, with some of the most popular draws in the world worth knowing.
The Spanish lottery is a game of chance that has a long history in Spain. It is believed that the first lottery draw in Spain took place in the 15th century, and since then it has been a very popular tradition in the country.
Officially, in 1763 King Carlos III created the Royal Christmas Lottery, which is still held every year on December 22nd. This lottery is one of the best known and oldest in the world, and has been an important source of funding for various projects and charitable causes over the years.
Currently, the Spanish lottery offers different lottery games, such as the National Lottery, the Bonoloto and the Gordo de la Primitiva, among others. If you want to know more about these lotteries, keep reading, because in this article we will make a comparison of all their prizes, their odds and everything you need to know to start playing the Spanish lottery.
La Primitiva, the oldest lottery in Spain
La Primitiva Lottery is one of the most popular lottery games in Spain. It is believed that the first La Primitiva draw took place in the 18th century, although there is no exact date for its creation.
Nowadays, La Primitiva is still one of the most popular lottery games in Spain. It is held every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and six numbers plus a complementary number and a draw are drawn. La Primitiva offers a minimum guaranteed jackpot of 2 million euros, which can be increased if there are no winners in a certain draw.
How to play Primitiva?
1. The player buys a lottery ticket, for which he/she has to choose 6 numbers from 1 to 49 each.
2. In each draw, six main numbers and one complementary number are drawn. The main numbers range from 1 to 49, and the complementary number ranges from 0 to 9.
3. To win the highest prize, the player must match all six main numbers and the complementary number. If no one matches all the numbers, the prize is accumulated for the next draw.
4. A number called "reintegro" is also drawn, which goes from 0 to 9. If the player matches the reintegro on his ticket, he receives an additional prize, even if he has not matched any other number.
The La Primitiva Lottery offers different prize categories, depending on the number of correct numbers. You can win a prize by matching at least 3 of the 6 numbers, or even by matching only the Reintegro.
Bonoloto, the cheapest lottery in Spain
The Bonoloto lottery is one of the most popular lottery games in Spain. It is held from Monday to Sunday, and offers attractive prizes at a more affordable price than other lottery games.
How to play Bonoloto?
1. The player must buy a ticket containing a unique six-digit number. The numbers range from 1 to 49, and the player can choose his own numbers or let the ticket be generated randomly.
2. In each drawing, six main numbers and one complementary number are drawn.
3. To win the highest prize, the player must match all six main numbers and the complementary number. If no one matches all the numbers, the prize is accumulated for the next draw.
The Bonoloto also offers prizes for matching fewer numbers, from two main numbers up to five main numbers plus the complementary number.
El Gordo, the youngest lottery in Spain
El Gordo de la Primitiva lottery was created in 1993 simulating the format of La Primitiva, only with bigger prizes and better odds of winning them. It is held every Sunday afternoon, and offers a minimum guaranteed jackpot of 5 million euros, which can be increased if there are no winners in a given draw.
How to play the Gordo de la Primitiva?
1. The player must buy a ticket containing a unique five-digit number. The numbers go from 1 to 54 and, in addition, the player must choose a complementary number (key) that goes from 0 to 9.
2. In each draw, five main numbers and one complementary number are drawn.
3. To win the highest prize, the player must match all five main numbers and the complementary number. If no one matches all the numbers, the prize is accumulated for the next draw.
4. A number called "reintegro" is also drawn, which goes from 0 to 9. If the player matches the reintegro on his ticket, he receives an additional prize, even if he has not matched any other number.
El Gordo de la Primitiva also offers prizes for matching fewer numbers, from two main numbers to four main numbers plus the complementary number.
The National Lottery, the most famous lottery in Spain
The National Lottery is probably the most famous and played lottery in Spain, mainly in its special Christmas edition, with the Extraordinary Christmas draw, which draws thousands of prizes every year on December 22nd.
In its traditional version, it is played every Thursday and Saturday, with a fixed prize of 30 thousand euros on Thursdays and 60 thousand euros on Saturdays.
How to play the National Lottery?
1. The player must buy a ticket containing a unique five-digit number, which can range from 00000 to 99999. In addition, the player can choose whether to buy only one tenth (one tenth of the ticket) or the whole series.
2. In each draw, the five main numbers are drawn.
3. To win the highest prize, the player must match all five numbers. The prize does not accumulate in case there is no winner.
4. There are also 3 "reintegros". If the player matches the reintegro on his ticket, he receives an additional prize, even if he did not match any other number.
The National Lottery also offers prizes for matching fewer numbers. It is possible to win prizes by matching only 4 numbers or even combinations similar to the winning number.
La Quiniela, the game for soccer lovers
La Quiniela is a game of chance popular in Spain among soccer fans, in which the player tries to guess the outcome of 15 soccer matches in order to win. It is held once a week and bets can generally be placed until the early hours of Saturday.
The participating matches can be from the Spanish National Soccer League Championship, the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, the King's Cup, as well as matches of National Teams and other European Leagues.
How to play Quiniela?
1. The player must choose the results that he/she believes will occur in 14 matches. He can choose between three options: victory of the home team, draw, or victory of the visitor's team.
2. In addition, the player must choose the exact result in goals of the last match, which is known as Full 15. He can choose for each team 0, 1, 2 or more than 2 goals.
3. At the end of each soccer match day, the players who have guessed all 14 matches plus the Full 15 win the prize.
In addition, it is possible to win a prize by guessing at least 10 matches. If there is no winner in the first category, the prize is accumulated for the next draw.
Which Spanish lottery has the best prizes?
Most lotteries in Spain have accumulative prizes, which can keep growing until there is a winner, except for the National Lottery, which always has fixed prizes. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate which lottery may have the best prize: it will depend on the accumulated jackpot at the moment.
However, we can compare the minimum jackpots of each one, and the biggest prizes they have drawn so far:
Which Spanish lottery has the best chances of winning?
In the following table, we will make a comparison of the winning odds of each lottery:
