Record ticket sales in Malaga province for Spain's famous Christmas lottery, and this is the amount that has already been staked

Spain's famous Christmas lottery draw, that features the 'El Gordo' jackpot prize, is to be held this Friday 22 December at the Teatro Real in Madrid. It is one of the most exciting and eagerly awaited events of the year and the country almost comes to a halt as millions of people tune in the live broadcast of the draw that takes several hours, with the winning numbers being sung by boys and girls on the theatre's stage.

Most people in Spain have a single or shared ticket – a deeply rooted tradition at this time of year. And 2023 is expected to be a record year for sales which, in Malaga, will increase again for the third consecutive year if the forecasts of the lottery organiser, State Lotteries and Betting (Loterías y Apuestas del Estado), play out, with sales of almost 100 million euros in the province.

The expectations on the level of sales are positive, explained the State Lotteries and Betting sources consulted by SUR. They added that the final figures (tickets can be bought up to the day before the draw) are expected to exceed those of last year when 95,099,400 euros was spent in Malaga – an increase of 5% compared to the previous year, with the sale of 475,497 tickets and an average expenditure per person of 56 euros.

Regarding how much this increase is estimated, the sources stated that they could not give a closed figure because in recent weeks growth has fluctuated, although they added that there will likely be an increase of “one digit”. For this year, according to official data, 99,740,600 euros worth of tickets have so far been bought in the province.

Odd ticket numbers are again the most demanded this year with 13, 5, 7, 69 among the most requested endings, as well as 23 which marks the end of the year.

However, the historic data from the massive Christmas draw shows that some of the top places for the El Gordo jackpot are occupied by even numbers. An ending with number five has scooped the first prize 32 times, followed by numbers four and six (27 times each), number eight (24 occasions) and zero (23 times). An ending with number one has won El Gordo the least – only eight times.

One of the novelties of this year is that the number of series per number rises from 180 to 185 to meet demand, which has been increasing in recent years after the drop that occurred from 2011 as a result of the economic crisis.

Last year, sale points in Malaga distributed a total of 1.7 million euros with big wins from La Piedad in El Molinillo and at a sales point in La Princesa, also in Playamar, in Torremolinos, and in Villanueva del Trabuco.