SPANISH LOTTERIES EXPLAINED
In the second part
of the series, I'll explain how you can play along with the
El BonoLoto. The first thing to say about
any of the Spanish lotteries is that you are allowed to buy a ticket whatever
your nationality. British are not barred
from taking part! The only restriction
is you must be 18 years old.
You can have a
gamble / bet (apuesta) by simply going into one of the local lottery offices up
and down most high streets in Spain.
Lottery offices open from 0900 to 1400 and again from 1700 to 1930. They close on Saturday afternoons. Other
offices that double up as other shops and businesses may have different hours.
The El BonoLoto is
drawn EVERY DAY (except Sunday) in the evening, even if it coincides with a
bank holiday, and is one of the most popular of the lotteries with the Spanish as
it is the cheapest to take part in. It
is very similar to the LA PRIMITIVA with some subtle differences. There are
two ways you can play, and you can choose to play for just one day or for the
whole week. Whatever you decide, the
tickets are different. To play for one
day only (and the day that you purchase the ticket), you need to look for a
ticket with a red and green bar with the word “Diario” and No 333 (pictured below),
As with LA
PRIMITIVA, both tickets are divided into 8 blocks of 49 numbers. You can have as many blocks as you wish and
each block only costs 50c, but you must select a MINIMUM of two blocks, making
the minimum total stake of €1. To give
you a complete example, let’s assume you want to play on a Wednesday and you
want 3 blocks of numbers. Pick up the red and green top form and select SIX
numbers in each block putting a X over each number. Hand the completed form to the cashier and
pay, in this case, your €1.50 (3 blocks @ 50c for 1 day). You’ll receive a printed receipt ticket with
your selected numbers and a Reintegro (lucky number) (pictured) which you must
keep in case you need to claim. You’ll
also be given the original form back which you can use again and again if you
wish, or complete a new one with different numbers each time.
If you wish to use
your favourite numbers for more than one day in the week, let’s imagine you
enter the lottery office on a Monday.
Pick up form “Semanal 324”, select your minimum of two blocks of six
numbers and hand it in to the cashier with your stake money for the week which
will cover, in this example, Monday to Friday (inclusive) and cost €5. If you enter on a Tuesday and want a weekly
bet, the cost will be €4, Wednesday €3, and Thursday €2. If you go on a Saturday, you can do the whole
six days at a cost of €6. It sounds
complicated on the surface, but is straightforward once the system is
understood.
You can also go
straight to the cashier and ask for a lucky dip ticket. Using the same examples above, ask for “tres
apuestas por El Bono Loto – por hoy” (Three bets for El BonoLoto – for today),
or “dos apuestas por El BonoLoto – semanal” (Two bets for ElBonoLoto – weekly).
You can check the
winning numbers in the local press or the website, of course, or you can take your ticket to any of
the lottery offices – it doesn’t have to be the one you made the bet. The website is http://www.loteriasyapuestas.es/en/bonoloto
To win a prize on El
BonoLoto, you need to match 3 numbers, 4 numbers, 5 numbers, 5 numbers + the
bonus ball (complementario), and 6 numbers.
If the reintegro number drawn is
the same as on your ticket, you automatically get your stake money back for
that day only. Therefore, using our first
example above, and if the reintegro matched for the Wednesday draw, you would
get your €1.50 back.
If you match 3
numbers, you automatically win €4. Other
amounts for matching the other numbers vary depending on the number of winning
tickets. As an example, the winnings
paid out for having a ticket with 5 + Complementario for Friday August 7th
2015 was €205,000, 5 numbers was €850, and 4 numbers was €23. There are rarely winners of the 6 numbers, so
in this case the top amount that could’ve been won rolls over each day until it
is won. This happened for the El
BonoLoto draw for Monday August 10th as one person had the winning
combination of 6 numbers and the resulting prize of just over €6,000,000. It was the first top prize winner since July
20th when just over €500,000 was claimed.
El BonoLoto is one
of many state run lotteries, so all profits go directly into government funds
and help to keep general taxation low, thanks to the Spanish being the biggest
gamblers in the world. El BonoLoto does
not support so-called “good causes”.
GENERAL INFORMATION
If you are lucky
enough to win a substantial amount on any of the state run Spanish lotteries,
the maximum winnings paid by the individual lottery office is €600. Anything over this amount and you will need
to take your winning ticket to your bank.
They will make a copy for you, sign it and keep the original. They will then contact the relevant lottery
office (the individual office identification is on the ticket as part of the
bar code) and when the winning amount is confirmed, the monies will be paid into
your bank account. From a lucky
experience of a few years ago (5 numbers paid out just over €3,000), this
system does work and normally takes around 3 to 5 days. You normally have 60 to 90 days to first
claim your winnings.
Winnings over €2,500
are now subject to a tax of 20%. The
first €2,500 is exempt; however you may have to pay tax on any interest
earned. This is something you should
discuss with your accountant. It is also
advisable, in the case of the many private syndicates that are organised, if
you win a large amount to make a list of the people taking part and signing an
agreement, preferably with their ID details and also in front of a notary. This is to ensure that any tax payable at the
end of the year is rightly shared among those taking part and not just the
organiser.
Next time, I'll feature the Spanish National Blind Charity - the O.N.C.E. If
you have any questions about the Spanish lotteries, please let me know.
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