The State Lottery and Betting drawing room, located on Guzmán el Bueno street in Madrid, will be the center of attention for all Spaniards this Monday, and especially for the people of the Canary Islands, who have not been lucky with 'El Gordo' of the Christmas Lottery since 2001, when it fell in Santa Cruz de la Palma.
The 'Gordo' prize has only traveled to the Canary Islands on four occasions. The first time it arrived in 1978 in Telde (Gran Canaria), later it was the capital of Gran Canaria in 1982 that was awarded the first prize, and in 2001 it arrived in La Palma to stay.
It also visited Tenerife last year, more specifically Puerto de la Cruz, although on this occasion the trip was round trip, since the ten tickets that arrived in the northern municipality of the Island were returned the day before the draw because none were sold.
The people of Tenerife, like the rest of the Canary Islanders, hope to be compensated this time and shed the tears (of happiness) that traditionally accompany those awarded the first prize and that this will cover 'some hole' (in some cases 'potholes') and face the economic crisis.
A sealed urn hangs from the facade of the Cabildo de Tenerife for a week with the number that, according to the magician Xerach, will be awarded the 'Gordo' prize. The people of Tenerife hope that the winning number, whatever it may be, will also be 'trapped' on the Island and will not abandon it prematurely as happened last year.
HANGING AND EXHIBITION OF BALLS
At four in the afternoon (Canarian time) the act of hanging and exhibiting the balls and prizes that will participate tomorrow in the draw will begin. Once the souvenir is finished, the drawing room will be vacated and access to its interior will be secured with locks, except for the door of the stage, whose keys will remain in the possession of three different 'key holders', who are in charge of sealing the drawing room the night before the draw and who will each have a different key, according to the website of State Lotteries and Betting.
The hall will be opened tomorrow at seven in the morning (Canarian time), and half an hour later the table that presides over and authorizes the draw will be constituted. This year 195 series of 85,000 numbers have been issued, in tenths of 20 euros and prizes of 2,320,5000 euros are offered. 'El Gordo' is awarded with 3 million euros per series, the second prize with one million and the third with 500,000 euros.
PREFERENCE OF THE CANARIANS
The people of the Canary Islands are playing something more than 94 million euros in the 2008 draw and each one has spent 46.41 euros. The expenditure is higher in the province of Tenerife, where 55.7 million (56.71 per inhabitant) are played, than in that of Las Palmas, with 38.2 million (36.69 euros per inhabitant), according to data from October of the National Organization of Lotteries and State Betting (Onlae)
The residents in the Archipelago, mostly, prefer to play numbers ending in 13, 22 and 69 in the Christmas Lottery Draw. There are important preferences for 9, 7 and 5 as the only endings, according to lottery vendors.
So far, 197 Christmas draws have been held and the endings of the two most repeated figures have been 85 seven times; 57 six times; 75 five times; 64 five times and 95 four times. The number of the first prize has never ended in 09, 10, 13, 21, 25, 31, 34, 41, 42, 43, 51, 54, 59, 67, 78 and 82, according to the Onlae.
The 5 has been the number that has been awarded the most times (on 31 occasions), followed by the 4 and the 6 with 26 appearances. The least repeated final figure has been the 1.
In the 197 draws held, the first prize has fallen on 74 occasions on a number between 30,001 and 85,000; on 72 occasions on a number between 10,001 and 30,000 and on 62 cases on 0 and 10,000.
PREMONITORY DREAMS
Luck is capricious and there are those who believe they have found it while sleeping. Juan Miguel Ortega, owner of Administration number 26 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, acknowledges that some clients go to buy the tickets after having dreamed of a certain number the night before.
But others go further. "After the Barajas accident, people are taking the 38,122, which in their opinion is "similar" to the flight number of the Spanair accident", the JK-5022, says María José Medina, from the Administration of La Brujita, from Telde.
ACN Press
