El Gordo
Name
Operator
Type
Country
Website
Founded
Lottorating
El Gordo de la Primitiva
Loterias y Apuestas del Estado
National lottery
Spain
loteriasyapuestas.es
1997
32/50
Introduction
Overview
El Gordo de la Primitiva is a more recent lottery than the main La Primitiva game, though not that young at 30 years old!
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Where Available
Available in Spain, though some concierge and betting services offer it in other countries.
How it Works
Date and time of draws
El Gordo de la Primtiva draws take place once a week only on a Sunday at 2pm CET.
No. of balls and how to hit the jackpot
There are 54 balls in the main machine plus 10 in the bonus pool. Players only pick 5 of the main and one from the bonus pool and if these are correct they win the jackpot.
Other Variations
The Christmas version of this lottery is hugely popular in Spain. Around €2.5bn of prizes are paid out from €3.5bn of sales.
Price, Tickets & Sales
Ticket Price
Tickets for the El Gordo de la Primitiva are more expensive than its sister, the Primitiva at €1.50 per line.
Tickets Sold Per Draw
This lottery is smaller than its sister, La Primitiva, selling around 3m tickets per draw or 4.5m in euros.
Sales per draw
The Christmas version of El Gordo sells around €2bn of tickets each year.
Odds
Prize Table
Odds of hitting the jackpot
The prize tiers use the bonus ball throughout. Similar to many lotteries, prizes are paid on a pools basis (% of stakes) after the fixed prizes have been paid out. The prize pool is shown below.
The jackpot is a more reachable 1 in 32m (compared to the 1 in 138m for La Primitiva).
Balls and Bonus Balls
Prize
Odds
5 and 1
5 and 0
4 and 1
4 and 0
3 and 1
3 and 0
2 and 1
2 and 0
0 and 1
10,000,000*
180,000
8,000
160
45
14
6
3
1.50
31,625,100
3,513,900
129,082
14,342
2,689
299
172
19
10
*Average jackpot size when it is hit
Odds of winning any prize
The odds of winning any prize are good at 1 in 6, largely because the lowest tier prize is just one bonus ball (a 1 in 10 shot). Even without the stake back prize, the frequency of winning any prize is still quite good at 1 in 16.
Jackpots
Minimum jackpot
There's a minimum 5m euros guaranteed on this lottery - very different again to its sister lottery.
Average jackpot
Jackpots though don't grow too quickly before they're won so the average you might see in a given week is quite similar at €7m.
Average jackpot when hit
When it's hit the jackpot is likely to be around €10m.
Highest jackpot ever
The jackpot did get to a level of €33m back in 2011. But generally, the relatively low odds of hitting the jackpot plus its slow growth mean that it stays fairly modest.
Jackpot winners per year
You should expect to see only around 5 winners on La Primitiva each year - mainly because it is a weekly not twice weekly draw and ticket sales are also quite low.
Contribution to the jackpot
The contribution to the jackpot is around 11% of sales (or 20% of prizes) and averages around €450k per week.
Return to Player
Introduction
The governing organisation claims that just like the Primitiva the % of sales returned to players as prizes is 55%. When you play the game, it is around this figure but varies a little according to the size of the jackpot, i.e your potential returns will be higher or lower.
RTP when first seeded
When first seeded your RTP is 0.46.
Average RTP
If you're playing on subscription, you can expect to see a RTP of 0.51 on El Gordo de la Primitiva.
RTP when jackpot typically hit
If you're playing when the jackpot reaches the size it is hit on average (€10m) then the return on your stake is around 0.56.
Best RTP
If you happen to be playing on those very very rare occasions (well, once so far!) when the jackpot rolls over to be worth €30m+, then you may be fortunate to face a positive return of 1.05. This though, is before calculating in the chances of sharing your jackpot or the hefty 20% tax burden on lottery winnings in Spain.
Payouts and Taxes
Annuity vs Cash
Advertised jackpots are their cash amount.
Taxes
There is though a 20% tax on your winnings.
Summary
Jackpot alerts
Whilst the overall RTP of El Gordo de la Primitiva is very similar to its sister La Primitiva, this lottery varies quite considerably from its sister lottery both in size and odds. You won't see it grow too fast too soon and the good chances of winning even the smaller prizes make this a more 'family friendly' lottery. Don't expect to set your jackpot alert on this one too soon. You'd probably need a jackpot of €50m before it offers real value, mainly because of the tax implications.
Pros
Lots of prize monies distributed quite widely and good chances of winning the lower tier prizes. Nice minimum jackpot sizes too. Reasonable chances of hitting the jackpot too.
Cons
Fairly small lottery so doesn't get too exciting, especially in terms of jackpot roll overs. Taxes are a burden here on big wins.
Verdict
If you like a simple, weekly lottery offering frequent returns on your tickets, then El Gordo is ok but it doesn't rock any boats. To play this or other lottos online, try our recommended agents.