El Gordo De Navidad Signed the History Once Again, This Time in an NFT Design
Where was the story started?!
El Gordo de Navidad had sparked the most historical traditions for the Spaniards since its beginning more than 200 years ago.
Its origin dates back to a time when Spain was invaded by Napoleon and the country had to face the expenses derived from the war of independence. The initiative came as a mean of revenue generation to cover the cost of the war.
El Gordo de Navidad is generally considered to be the world’s largest lottery game, with the largest price pool.
Back in time, not everyone could afford to have a TV though, so coming across a bunch of people piled up in front of a TV shop window was perfectly normal😳
Every 22nd December;
The portrayal of families sitting in front of their TVs watching the live draw until the big prizes are hit, is the perfect image of reality!
The draw was initially called El Gordo de Navidad,
But wait! Are you actually wondering what that does even mean?!
El Gordo de Navidad whose literal translation is “The Christmas Fat” which makes sense if you thing about it, right?
I mean it’s “the fattest” prize when it belonged to the Spanish National Lottery!
In 1892, around 70 years after the first draw, the name of Loteria de Navidad (also El Gordo) was officially established.
In 1897, which marked a very special year as the year, in-which tickets with the Lotteria de Navidad name were printed.
The first draw took place over the Chirstmas period in 1811, and it still follows the same raffle method today with printed tickets of five-digit numbers. Priced back then at 40 Reeles per ticket with a prize of 8,000 Pesetas, it’s €20 per ticket nowadays with total yearly prize pools that exceed €2 billion (more than $2.000 billion).
It was in 2002 when the prizes for El Gordo started to be counted in Euros (€) with the introduction of the new currency.
Then;
In 2004, the draw established a new record with the quickest El Gordo winning numbers in history, shown in just 13 minutes from start to end (quite impressive for a lengthy of 4 hours draw beginning to end!)
There were only 85,000 numbers up until 2010, generating 195 series in 2009 and 2010. The numbers increased to 100,000 in 2011, just because the increase in demand for tickets, which saw a rise in profits and the money available in the prize fund.
Although El Gordo happens only once a year around Christmas time, Spaniards start purchasing their tickets way ahead of time. For some even, the tradition is to stick with the same numbers year after year, usually as an inherited chosen number from their past generation, in their memory!
Throughout the whole year any trip within the country becomes a chance to buy a ticket number from a differet region. For those who take it seriously, Christmas Lottery Tickets are a good reason to stand in a queue outside some of famous lottery administrations all over the country to buy their carefully chosen lucky numbers.
El Gordo became so important that, not even the Spanish Civil War — took place in 1938 — stopped it.
In fact, the importance of the game back then was such that the collected funds accounted for 3% of the State’s Income. This lottery has endured crises and wars since 1812.
Following the Spanish sense of humour and ridicule, some like to joke around this and make jokes considering this lottery is the only reason people line up to pay their taxes. Whichever meaning we give it, we cant deny this is a big deal for many Spaniards and it’s still present in family traditions passed on to new generations from their older ones.
This NFT,
which is part of MyLottoCoin NFT Collection for the Gold Tier. Check their Diamond Tier NFT in here.
Is crafted by the artist Chephero with over20 years of experience and following his pinciples, he’s a local street artist who covenys his vision of society through a critical eye. Originally Spanish, his framily migrated to Venezuela when he was 1 and moved again to New Jersery when he was 5. A background many old generations of Spaniards would identify with, with a strong migration history in seek of better opportunities.
He moved back to Spain at the agen of 16 and travelled around Europe, leaving his mark through his art. He started painting when he was only 13 and has developed his own style from then, nurturing his personal brand to make him who he is today!
He is considered the first street artist to give his profession a name in his hometown Vigo (Spain), where he is highly recognized by the local government and his work is part of its cultural heritage.
Following his style of social criticism, he illustrates his idea of the Spanish National Lottery. His story behind this NFT has an underlying meaning. The unnoticed dog taking the winning ticket from a lady’s bag, while she’s entertained by the live lottery draw, depicts his own reflection: Sometimes luck is on the unfortunate ones’ side.
Fun fact: His art is a portrayal of himself as the (lucky) poor unfortunate man with his actual dog — named Gala — who he considers better than any prize, showing his profound love for his companion!
One of his most remarkable anecdoted whichcharacterizes him was a work that drew a lot of attention in the local media after he was asked to paint a large wall. Despote the low price offered for the paintning, he agreed to it under one single condition:the owners weren’t allowed to see it until the official opening cermony to punblic. As a result, he had painted himself begging for the spare as a direct critic to the undervalue he had suffered.
A daring, brave, and honest artist who is determined to always tell truth and stand up for himself!
Keep up with MyLottoCoin NFT Collection to get to know more of the pieces that have shaped the history of the lottery you know today!
