The Spanish National Lottery ONCE Lottery Football Pools
Spanish Lotteries
The Spanish National Lottery
Non-Spaniards can participate in the lottery and claim prizes the same as Spanish citizens. The only restriction is that any prize winnings must stay within Spain or you will face paying taxes on the amount won upon entering another country.
Lottery tickets can be purchased at any local state lottery shops which are called Loterias y Apuestas del Estado. Marked by their blue colour, the shops offer four different games that run throughout the week. La Loteria Nacional is played every Thursday and Saturday, the Bonoloto is drawn every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, La Primitiva is drawn every Thursday and Saturday and the large jackpot, El Gordo de la Primitiva, which is drawn every Sunday.
The prices of the tickets are varied, depending on the game played. Mark six of your own digits, or buy a computer drawn ticket. For the national lottery there are a fixed number of digits on a ticket, known as decimo, or the tenth part of a whole lottery ticket. Prizes are won when there are three minimum numbers drawn out of the maximum of six.
For the National Lottery if the last two numbers are the same as the big prize you will win something and if only the last number is the same you will get your money back. Winning tickets can be redeemed at any of the Lottery shops. As it is a state-run lottery there are no taxes to pay on winnings.
ONCE Lottery
The Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (Spanish National Blind organisation), also runs a regular lottery. Tickets are sold at green kiosks in the streets. Non-residents can also play this game which is a daily game of five digits and a series of three with a special coupon for larger jackpots on Friday and Sunday. On the first Friday and Sunday of every month there is a special coupon for the monthly large jackpot.
Prizes start when one to five numbers (with the series or not) match up with prizes ranging from 2.50 euros (when only the last digit matches) to 300,000 euros (when the five digits and the series match). While smaller prizes can be claimed at the kiosks, larger prizes must be claimed at the Banco de España. Tickets can be checked with the street sellers, at the kiosks and by watching Antenna 3 TV after the news every evening.