The El Gordo Loteria is part of the Euromillions Euro lotto, but if that’s all you know that’s definitely not enough. Known for featuring one of the largest jackpots of our time, this game of chance offers payouts up to two point six billion Euros. And yet there’s more. With over thirteen thousand prizes being offered your chances of winning a prize mean that there will be one winner per six tickets. Astonishing odds when looked at in the context of other major lotteries.

Each month the Euromillions Eurolottery holds a draw. Three months a year see bigger lotteries guaranteeing way grander prizes. These three special lotteries are hosted in January, summer, and at Christmas: respectively, these are El Nio, San Ildefonso & El Gordo also known as “the fatso”. Balls with numbers ranging between 00,000 and 84,999 are not typical in lottery systems, but this draw employs a unique system using them. One ball apiece is drawn from two bowls; the first selection determines the winning ticket, while the second determines what the ticket is worth.

To enter the lottery, one choice is a full ticket, termed a “serie”. There is also a cheaper option; called a “décimo” which is worth one tenth of a full ticket. Neither choice is especially cheap, though, and equally neither has better odds of being one of the one in six winning tickets. As a result many players of the El Gordo lotto use the e-lottery scheme.

If you buy into the e-lottery system, you can be confident of winning a prize. You simply buy into the El Gordo Lottery syndicate which will then pool you into teams. Each team is assigned a number from zero to nine when the drawing is made, the last digit of the winning number identifies which team will receive the prize. An even division of the prize amongst the team follows. Then, everyone subscribes again for the draw the following month and the cycle begins again. The concept of sharing the jackpots is cause for concern for some players. But when you consider how much more than two and a half billion Euros really is, there’s still lots of money for everybody. As you’re guaranteed to win once a month, the syndicate system is both less of a worry and more affordable. Really, there’s no better return…