€700 million Prize Fund in January 6 El Niño Draw

The first week of 2022 ends with an exciting lottery draw in Spain. The El Niño draw takes place on Thursday January 6 with a sensational prize fund of €700 million.

Tickets for this draw can be purchased at Lottery24. Take part and you could well start the new year with a big win.

A draw steeped in tradition

Just like the El Gordo de Navidad, the El Niño draw is steeped in history. The first draw was held in 1879 with the purpose of raising funds for the Children’s Hospital of the Child Jesus in Madrid. 1941 saw the draw be renamed the El Niño.

There’s a very special reason why the El Niño draw takes place on January 6. It’s believed that this is the date when the Three Kings from the East finally reached Bethlehem. El Niño in English means ‘The Child’ and it was to give gifts to the baby Jesus that the Three Kings made their journey.

The El Niño draw will be held at noon in the State Lottery and Betting Hall situated in Madrid. The draw is made using multiple drums that contain 50 series of 100,000 tickets each. The tickets are numbered between 00000 and 99999 with each ticket having 50 copies and then divided up into tenths.

Some players purchase the same number each year. In 2017, the Confraternity of El Santo Sepulcro of Torrent won a share of the top prize. They’d been using the same number for 34 years before finally winning.

Big prizes to be won

It takes half an hour to determine the results that could well change people’s lives. The first prize sees that series win €2 million and if you hold a tenth, that will win you €200,000. The second prize is €750,000 and the third sees the series with that number winning €250,000.

Where will the big winners come from in this latest draw? 2021 saw the first prize won by tickets sold in Plasencia, Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), Bilbao, Madrid and Castelldefels (Barcelona).

Get your El Niño tickets from Lottery24 >