Tag Archives: drawing
El Gordo, the World's Largest Lottery !
El Gordo, the World’s Largest Lottery !
The Spanish El Gordo (‘the Fat One’ or ‘the big one’) lottery has been around for a long time. The first El Gordo drawing took place in 1812 and ever since the Christmas drawing has generated excitement throughout Europe. The annual Christmas draw has jackpots totaling 3 billion Euros. ($3,969,467,877 USD) making it the richest lottery on the planet. The El Gordo lottery makes more millionaires in a single draw than most lotteries make in a year. The drawings have a long and rich tradition in Spain and have changed very little since the first drawing in 1812. The drawings are held in Madrid and students from the San Ildefonso School (the school was once restricted to orphans and the children of civil servants) draw the lottery numbers and then sing the results.
Two spherical containers are used for the drawings and the larger of the two containers is filled with tens of thousands of balls with unique five digit numbers and the smaller container is 1,787 wooden balls with prizes in Euros on each ball. One child sings the number while another sings the prize. Because of the large number of prizes the drawing takes about three hours. The drawings are televised and generate a lot of excitement in Spain. All prizes are paid in a lump sum and are tax free unlike American lotteries where taxes can easily take over half of a large jackpot. In addition to the Christmas drawing other drawings take place throughout the year.
El Gordo tickets have two grids, one grid with numbers from 1 through 54 and a second grid containing numbers from 1 through 9. Players must select five numbers in the first grid and one in the second. El Gordo lottery tickets are sold throughout Spain and cost (euro)1.50. (About $1.98 USD) Future El Gordo draws this year will take place in September, October, November and of course Christmas. Players who want to purchase El Gordo tickets may purchase online lottery tickets for these exciting draws. Players need not be Spanish nationals to play and details are readily available at the official El Gordo website. El Gordo lottery results are available online and are posted in several languages including English.
It is easy to see why El Gordo is one of the most popular and played lotteries in the world. The odds of winning a prize in the El Gordo lottery are probably better than in any other major lottery. American lottery players should have no trouble purchasing tickets for this popular and profitable lottery.
Playing the Minnesota Lottery
Playing the Minnesota Lottery
If you are in need of a good pick-me-up, nothing can beat the thrill of scratching off a Minnesota lottery ticket, especially if it happens to be a winner. The Minnesota state lottery has much to offer in the way of instant win games and also weekly and daily drawing games. From Powerball to Hot Lotto and Northstar Cash, you can’t go wrong with the Minnesota lottery.
If you like the thrill of watching a televised drawing and you enjoy picking out your lucky lottery numbers, then Hot Lotto just might be the game for you. The jackpot for the game starts at one million dollars, and the prize money is rolled over each time no one wins the drawing. The game involves picking five numbers between one and thirty-nine and one additional number called the HOT ball. This number must fall between one and nineteen. The Hot Lotto game is played among several different states, including Iowa, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia and South Dakota in addition to in Minnesota. Your odds for winning any prize in this Minnesota lottery game are one in sixteen. However, if you will only be happy with the jackpot, your odds stack up to be a bit more grim, at one in eleven million.
However, there is more to the Minnesota state lottery than meets the eye. Other than that going to prize money, the majority of the proceeds from the Minnesota lottery go toward a state environmental trust fund that supports national resources, gaming and fishing and other environmental issues. This makes purchasing a lottery ticket worth a lot more than just a dollar, even if you do not ever win a penny. Every time you purchase a Minnesota lottery ticket, you can rest assured that your money is going to a good cause, and who knows? You just might end up winning something after all.
While the Minnesota lottery offers decent odds you may want to consider playing other state lotteries. There are several reputable websites offering online lottery ticket sales. Minnesota is one of several Powerball states that have chosen to add the popular Mega Millions lottery to its lotto lineup. Due to federal laws and regulations the Minnesota lottery does not allow players to buy online lottery tickets. Once federal regulations are clarified many lottery experts believe it will only be a matter of time before most state lotteries allow players to buy lotto tickets online.