The 29th final, the day of the flood that devastated Valencia, is the most popular in the Christmas draw.

The extraordinary Christmas draw will take place on December 22. ANAPAL, the Spanish Association of Lotteries Organizers, is finalizing all preparations for this draw, which this year will have a total prize value of 2.702 million euros. In addition, due to the disaster that Valencia experienced with DANA, ANAPAL is combining all the preparations for the draw with a solidarity campaign that they created to raise funds that will go to help the affected lotteries so that they can rebuild their business.

To date, this campaign has already raised more than 77,000 euros thanks to the cooperation of lottery administrations throughout Spain, as well as the contribution of the group itself in the amount of 30,000 euros. The money collected will be distributed to the affected Valencia lotteries, regardless of whether they are members of ANAPAL or not.

The main association of lottery authorities in Spain therefore calls on the sector and citizens to join this action of solidarity with financial donations through the website Ayudavalencia.anapal.net. “With this initiative, we have the goal of helping, being close to the people who need us and contributing to our grain of sand as the main lottery association,” adds Borja Muñiz Urteaga, President of ANAPAL.

The Christmas lottery is the most important of the year, as it accounts for more than 30% of the annual amount collected in public gambling. According to the State Society of Lotteries and Betting (SELAE), 211 extraordinary Christmas draws were held in Spain. And among all the draws, three numbers received the most returns: 5, 4 and 6, which were won 32 and 27 times, respectively.

“As the final months of the year approach, lottery offices begin to fill up with people asking for specific numbers based on superstitions or omens. Commonly chosen numbers are usually birthdays or special dates, as well as family traditions in which they always buy the same tenth of dates,” says ANAPAL President.

Moreover, in this sense, the association confirms that “this year, due to the DANA disaster, we have identified how lottery authorities in the affected areas have experienced an increase in ticket sales for the Christmas draw and, due to superstition, many are asking about the 29th ending or even about the specific date of the flood.

Looking at the series awarded since 1812, the most repeated double-digit endings were 85 (seven times), 57 (six times) and 64,65,75, 90 and 97 (five times). Although there are also endings in which the first prize number never ended: 09, 10, 21, 25, 31, 34, 41, 42, 43, 51, 54, 59, 67, 78 and 82.

By city, four of them were the most successful in the competition for the first prize “El Gordo de Navidad”, which adds 4,000,000 euros to the series. In total, the first prize was won in the Spanish capital 84 times. This is followed by Barcelona, ​​awarded 44 times and, to a lesser extent, Seville – 19 times, as well as Bilbao and Valencia – 16 and 15 times respectively. Rounding out the rankings are Zaragoza, a city that has won first place up to 13 times, and Cadiz, which has won 13 times.

Residents of Madrid and Andalusians and Spaniards buy the most lottery tickets

In the Autonomous Community, according to SELAE’s distribution for this year, the largest number of purchases of the Christmas lottery are made in Madrid (575 million euros in total). It is followed by Andalusia (522 million), Catalonia (446 million) and the Valencian Community (426 million).

On average, Spaniards spend 73.84 euros, equivalent to almost four tenths per person, but there are provinces that exceed this figure, such as Soria – an average of fourteen tenths per person, Palencia and Burgos – more than seven tenths or Segovia, Teruel and Huesca ​- more than six tenths.

There are a total of 193 episodes available for this Christmas draw, eight more than last year, with 100,000 numbers each. Among the prizes of the draw, the popular “Gordo de Navidad” stands out, worth 4 million euros per series, the second prize – for 1,250,000 euros per series and the third prize – 500,000 euros per series, not forgetting the two fourth prizes of 200,000 euros per series and eight fifth prizes of 60,000 euros per episode.