El Gordo de Navidad
Spain’s legendary Christmas lottery — the largest prize pool on Earth, drawn every 22 December and sung by the children of San Ildefonso. Here’s your festive playground: a live countdown, a lucky-número generator, the full prize table and a what-would-you-win calculator. 🎁
until the next El Gordo draw
Generate a lucky El Gordo number
El Gordo numbers run from 00000 to 99999. You can’t pick digits freely (it’s a raffle), but you can hunt for a number you love at a lottery administration. Spin one below — cryptographically random, just for fun.
Décimos, billetes & series — explained
El Gordo is a raffle, not a pick-your-numbers game. Every number from 00000 to 99999 is pre-printed, and the same number is sold in many series — so dozens of people can hold the winning number and all win together. That’s why whole towns celebrate at once.
Pick a number you like
Buy a décimo (one-tenth of a ticket) for €20, a full billete (ten décimos) for €200, or a small participación share sold by bars, shops and clubs.
Wait for 22 December
At the Teatro Real in Madrid, the San Ildefonso schoolchildren sing the numbers and prizes from two giant golden spheres (bombos) — a marathon broadcast that lasts hours.
Win on your share
Prizes are paid per décimo. Hold a décimo of El Gordo and you win €400,000; hold two and you win €800,000, and so on. Even the last digit can refund your stake.
El Gordo prize table
Switch between what each prize pays per décimo (€20 share), per billete (€200), or per full series.
| Prize | Amount | How many |
|---|
Plus aproximaciones (numbers either side of the big winners), centenas (same first three digits) and terminaciones (matching endings) sprinkle thousands more prizes across the draw.
El Gordo winnings calculator
Pick a prize tier and how many décimos you hold of that number. We’ll estimate the gross prize, the Spanish tax (20% on the part of each décimo prize above €40,000) and what lands in your pocket.
Will you get your money back?
The reintegro is the last digit of El Gordo. Match it and your €20 décimo is refunded — roughly a 1-in-10 shot, which is why so many tickets win something. Pop in a number to see its reintegro digit.
Two more little games
🎂 Birthday → número
Turn your birthday into a 5-digit number to hunt for.
🔍 Lucky-pattern checker
Is your número a capicúa (palindrome)? We rate its festive vibe.
- Members-only SHA-256 provably-fair generators across every game
- Our small, private Telegram Community — ideas, voice notes & early tool access
- First dibs on festive drops & the Christmas community giveaway
Festive fun facts
Older than most countries’ lotteries
The draw dates back to 1811–1812, making it one of the longest continuously-run lotteries in the world.
The numbers are sung
Pupils of the San Ildefonso school chant each number and prize in a hypnotic melody — a tradition going back over a century.
It’s shared, not solo
Spaniards split décimos and participaciones with family, workmates and neighbours — so a single winning number can make a whole village rich.
The “rain of millions”
Beyond El Gordo, the pedrea scatters 1,794 prizes of €1,000 — part of why far more tickets win than in a typical lottery.
Biggest pool on the planet
Around €2.7 billion is returned in prizes — no single draw anywhere distributes more total money.
A whole morning of drama
The draw can run for 4+ hours, and much of Spain tunes in over breakfast on the 22nd. It unofficially kicks off Christmas.
The lingo, decoded
- El Gordo
- “The Fat One” — the top prize, €4M per series (€400,000 per décimo).
- Décimo
- A tenth of a ticket, costing €20 — the usual way people play.
- Billete
- A full ticket (ten décimos), costing €200.
- Serie
- One complete print run of all 100,000 numbers; each number exists in many series.
- Participación
- A small share of a décimo (e.g. €5) sold by bars, clubs and shops.
- Pedrea
- The “gravel” — the many small €1,000-per-series consolation prizes.
- Reintegro
- Match El Gordo’s last digit and your stake is refunded.
- Aproximación
- Extra prizes for the numbers immediately before and after a big winner.
- El Niño
- El Gordo’s little sibling — a second big Spanish draw on 6 January.
- Bombo
- The giant rotating golden sphere that holds the wooden number balls.
The magic of shared luck
Because the same number is sold in many series and split into décimos and participaciones, El Gordo has a habit of landing on entire communities at once. The most famous case is the tiny village of Sodeto in Aragón: in 2011 almost every household had bought a share of the winning number through the local homemakers’ association, and the village shared a fortune overnight — leaving just one resident who hadn’t bought in.
That communal spirit is the heart of El Gordo. A single winning number can sweep one bar, office, football club or street, which is why 22 December so often ends in tears of joy on live TV — and why your chance of winning alongside people you know is unusually high for a lottery.
Curious how El Gordo stacks up against the giants? Its 1-in-100,000 top-number chance is far friendlier than Powerball (1 in 292M) or EuroMillions (1 in 139.8M) — and sits alongside Spain’s weekly La Primitiva. See them all side by side on our lottery odds comparison.
Questions, answered
When is El Gordo de Navidad drawn?
How much is a ticket?
How much does El Gordo pay?
What are the odds?
Can I choose my own number?
Are winnings taxed?
Can people outside Spain play?
Play for fun, play responsibly
El Gordo de Navidad is a game of pure chance run by Spain’s Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. The tools on this page — the lucky-número generator, calculator and reintegro checker — are free, for entertainment only. They don’t sell tickets, predict results, or change anyone’s odds, and every number has exactly the same chance. Only the official operator, Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, confirms a result or pays a prize.
Prize and tax figures are guidance based on recent draws and can change year to year; confirm details with the official operator.