Spanish Christmas Lottery: how to play from UK, prizes up for grabs and time of draw today

Countries around the world each have their own unique ways of celebrating Christmas, and in Spain that means playing the Spanish Christmas Lottery.

This is everything you need to know about the lottery, and how you can take part in the draw from the UK.

What is the Spanish Christmas Lottery - when is the draw?

The Spanish Christmas Lottery is a special draw conducted by the Lotería Nacional, which is the weekly national lottery run by Spain’s state-owned Loterías y Apuestas del Estado. In terms of the total prize payout, the Spanish Christmas Lottery is considered to be the biggest lottery draw in the world.

Playing the Christmas Lottery is a huge Christmas tradition in Spain, with almost every Spanish person buying themselves a ticket.

While it’s called a lottery, the event is actually more like a raffle. Instead of lottery balls, two huge drums contain all the purchased tickets, with each ticket containing a number between 00000 and 99999. Tickets are chosen from the drums and players win a prize if the numbers on their ticket match those on the chosen ticket.

The draw is held annually on 22 December, and is the biggest draw of the year. It takes place at around 1pm Spanish time, meaning around 12pm in the UK, and lasts around three hours.

What’s the jackpot?

The estimated prize pool of the Spanish Christmas Lottery is an estimated £2.2 billion, with the main jackpot prize, known as El Gordo, coming in at a massive £3.5 million payout.

This is the prize breakdown according to Lottoland - note that the prize values are displayed in euros, with the value in pounds sterling subject to currency variations:

• 1st prize (“El Gordo”): one potential winner, €4,000,000 / £3,560,000
• 2nd prize: one potential winner, €1,250,000 / £1,112,553
• 3rd prize: one potential winner, €500,000 / £421,000
• 4th prize: two potential winners, €200,000 / £170,000
• 5th prize: eight potential winners, €60,000 / £53,402
• Five correct numbers: 1794 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• Numbers before and after "El Gordo": two potential winners, €20,000 / £17,800
• Numbers before and after 2nd prize: two potential winners, €12,500 / £11,125
• Numbers before and after the 3rd prize: two potential winners, €9,600 / £8,544 
• First 3 digits of "El Gordo": 99 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• First 3 digits of 2nd prize: 99 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• First 3 digits of 3rd prize: 99 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• First 3 digits of 4th prize: 99 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• Last 2 digits of "El Gordo": 999 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• Last 2 digits of 2nd prize: 999 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• Last 2 digits of 3rd prize: 999 potential winners, €1,000 / £890
• Same last digit as "El Gordo": 9999 potential winners, €200 / £178

Can I play from the UK?

UK residents looking to get in on the action are in luck for you can indeed take part in the Spanish Christmas Lottery even if you’re not in Spain - well, kind of.

Instead of actually taking part in the official lottery itself, what you can do is bet on the outcome of the lottery draw through Lottoland, which is more or less just the same as if you were buying a ticket for the lottery.

Simply head over to Lottoland, choose your ticket number and what share of that bet you’d like to buy. A full number costs £249.99, but you can buy a 1/100th share of a bet starting at £4.99.