El Gordo Winners & Their Stories

EL GORDO WINNERS & THEIR STORIES

• EL GORDO WINNERS IN 2023
• THE BIGGEST WINNERS AT LOTTOLAND
• THE BIGGEST EL GORDO WINNERS IN SPAIN
• REBOLLO DE DUERO & ALMAZÁN – VILLAGES WINNING TOGETHER!
• SORT – LUCK BY NAME, LUCKY BY NATURE!
• SODETO & THE UNLUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD
• CAN A SOUTH AFRICAN BEAT GERMAN EL GORDO RECORD?

Although the Spanish Christmas Lottery has been around for over 200 years, it has only recently been making waves internationally. Thanks to Lottoland, you too can also take part in the Spanish Christmas lottery in South Africa. Over the years we have Lottoland has had numerous big payouts, but also many smaller payoutsd and every December we are happy to give many people an early Christmas present!

EL GORDO WINNERS IN 2023

As the price of a whole ticket is relatively high, Spanish lottery punter usually only buy shares of the Christmas lottery tickets. Tenth tickets (décimos) are the most popular option. These can win up to 400,000 euros!*

In 2023, Lottoland had numerous winners. For starters, a trio of German punters pitched in together to take a 1/20 share of of a bet. They must have been on santa’s “nice” list, as their number, 88008, delivered them a very nice present in the form of €200,000!

Meanwhile, in neghbouring Austria, one punter took a 1/5 share of the number 58303. Although this wasn’t the winning number, it did come second meaning our winner took home €250,000 just in time for Christmas!

We are excited to see  which winners we can tell you about in 2024 - we will be sure to keep you updated!

THE BIGGEST WINNERS AT LOTTOLAND

Our most famous winners in the Spanish Christmas lottery placed their bets in 2015. A man from Wolfsburg got his partner, and three friends together and they hatched a plan that would soon make them millionaires. Their story is reflects all the themes we are used to seeing at Christmas - getting together, beting and sharing joy.

The big moment came on 22 December 2015, shortly after noon! It took a long time for the ball with the top payout to roll out of the drum in Madrid, but finally the children of a Madrid school sang the winning numbers - 79140 ! It was hard to believe, but the Wolfsburgers had won! Their bet was now worth €4 million! Even better for the Germans - they didn’t have to pay any tax on their winnings, unlike winners in Spain!

THE BIGGEST EL GORDO WINNERS IN SPAIN

In Spain, the motto of the Christmas lottery is "joy shared is joy doubled". This is why families, villages or companies often join together to form lottery pools in order to buy bets together. It is therefore not surprising that  entire regions and areas usually win payouts , meaning that El Gordo payouts are widely distributed every year – sometimes to the benefit of entire villages!               

REBOLLO DE DUERO & ALMAZÁN – VILLAGES WINNING TOGETHER!

The province of Soria spends more money every year on the Christmas Lottery than almost any other area of Spain, yet it only claimed its first El Gordo winner in 2006! A small village of just 6,000 residents, Almazán had been beset by economic crisis. So, when the number 20297 was drawn, and with it a monster €375 million payout, almost the entire village rejoiced. Over 85% of the village had clubbed together to bet on the Christmas Lottery, and the massive payout was distrubuted amongst them accodingly.

However, the winning did not stop at the borders of Almazán! The nearby village of Rebollo de Duero was made up of just 25 residents, mostly senior citizens. They too struck it lucky thanks to an employee of the town hall! Octavio Yagüe co-ordinated Rebollo's buying efforts with the organisers in Almazán. When both villages won, Octavio was recognised as Rebollo's lucky charm!

SORT – LUCK BY NAME, LUCKY BY NATURE!

A very special story from the Spanish Christmas lottery is the village of Sort in Catalonia. This little village attracts countless tourists each year who make the arduous trip to the Pyrenees with just one purpose – to buy the shares for El Gordo! Why do they that? Well “Sort” is not only the name of the village, it is also Catalonian for “luck”! However, when it comes to El Gordo, Sort is more than just a name!

Over a period of ten years, the local outlet, La Bruixa d'Or (The Golden Witch), has produced a total of five top-tier winners of the Christmas lottery plus a series of larger secondary payouts. This one shop now has an annual turnover of 100 million euros, by far the largest in the entire country!

The majority of this revenue comes from online sales. Punter from all over Spain order their Christmas lottery tickets online, which are then conveniently delivered by post.  La Bruixa d'Or is the most famous lottery ticket sales outlet in Spain and its owner, Xavier Gabriel, has long since become a multimillionaire thanks to  these sales.

SODETO & THE UNLUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD

On 22 December 2011, the village of Sodeto, with a population of just 250, won the top payout in the Spanish Christmas lottery, and almost all of its residents were delighted to be the beneficiaries of more than 100 million euros. We say “almost” all of the residents for a very good reason – only 249 placed a bet. That’s right, in the entire village, just one person didn’t take part and missed out on the Christmas windfall!  The unlucky villager was a Greek man by the name of Costis Mitsotakis, although he did later make a documentary about his experience.

For the rest of the village, the win was nothing short of a blessing. Sodeto was another village that had experienced economic hardship, and the payout helped the villagers pay off debts, renovate houses and gave the youth of the village a future to look forward to. To this day, Sodeto remains a popular place for people to place their bets, hoping the some the villagers luck will rub off on them!

CAN A SOUTH AFRICAN BEAT GERMAN EL GORDO RECORD?

So, one of the biggest El Gordo payouts in recent years came not from Spain, but from a group of Germans betting with Lottoland. Can this record be beat? Of course it can! The final rush has begun, and the  El Gordo bets  are once again in high demand this year.  The closing date is 07:00. on December 22nd . Don’t foget, If you bet with our "Double Payout" feature , you can win €8 million. Don’t forget, the odds of winning El Gordo are better than excellent at 100,000 to 1!

The entire Lottoland team wishes you  Feliz Navidad ,  buena suerte  and much success on your way to beating the German record!

*Winning bets will be converted from Euro to ZAR using the currency exchange rate that day.