Since 1812, buying an “El Gordo” lottery ticket has been a Spanish Christmas tradition as dear to everyone in the old country as setting up the Christmas tree or displaying a nativity scene.
El Gordo is a very democratic lottery system. About 70% of the money collected is paid out; in 2013 the number was an extraordinary 2.5 billion Euros. Hundreds of numbers win, even though there is only one “Big Prize” “El Gordo” that will get a 4 million Euro payout.
Even the otherwise gluttonous Spanish IRS will give the winners a break and take only 20% off the top. An extraordinary number of people end up winning some type of prize. For the rest, the non-winners, December 22nd is also called “Health day”. Hey!, you still have your health.
Everything about “El Gordo” oozes tradition. Artistically carved in small wooden balls, the numbers are randomized in two large and shiny copper-wire spheres. An enormous one, on the right, holds the 100,000 numbers at play and a smaller one on the left, for the winning amounts. As the spheres spin, the wooden balls make a unique sound that I will always associate with Christmas and good fortune.
A team of two kids reads the numbers using a special singing voice. The children are closely supervised by an adult, whose only job is to make sure the abacus-like board is properly filled with rows and rows of winning numbers.
When I was a kid growing up in Spain, it was hard to avoid hearing the angelical voices of the children singing the numbers out loud in that melodic tone. As you walked down the street all the small local businesses had a TV or a radio on, tuned to the drawing. The children’s voices were something special and their signing of the numbers, a jewel of cultural uniqueness.
That time of the year, especially during bad economic times, the apparent “easy odds” drove many people to hang all their financial hopes on winning "El Gordo". One of my neighbors, the owner of a “hole-in-the-wall” newspaper stand, won. He had bought a fractional ticket, so his winnings were probably less than a million dollars. For a poor man with a history of financial trouble, that amount must have seemed an inexhaustible fortune. The time had come for him and his young family.
Over the next year and a half, he blew through all his winnings and got into debt. He bought two Mercedes Benz(s), the second one right after a drunk-driving accident. Realizing that his money wouldn't last long, he became a compulsive gambler. In the process of becoming a high roller he befriended dozens of women of ill repute that, he thought, would bring him good luck. The experience destroyed his marriage and his newfound fortune. He ended up selling his newspaper stand and moving out of town in shame. He was now a divorced alcoholic with severe health issues.
El Gordo is a fantastic tradition and I hope it maintains its present form for years to come. May the carved wooden balls survive well into a future world of networked machines and shiny holograms. This is a tradition that blends all the best elements of the Spanish culture in terms of timeless style, social solidarity, a strong connection with the Christmas spirit of giving, hope, and the key role of family.
El Gordo will continue to spread good fortune to hundreds of people for years to come. As the philosopher said, good fortune is a tasteless drink. It is up to the one that holds the cup to turn this drink into one of water, wine or poison.
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