History

Historia

It was the year 1763 when King Carlos III established the so-called ‘Lotería Real’ or ‘Royal Lottery’. The social benefit provided by this lottery was one of the main reasons for its creation; thus in the Royal Decree of 30 September 1763, which inaugurated our lotto, the king pointed out that “(…) I have considered it appropriate and convenient to establish a Lottery in Madrid… so that it can provide a benefit to Hospitals, Hospices and other Pious and public works, in which many monetary flows from my Royal Treasury are consumed annually.”

The game was a kind of Lotería Primitiva (today’s state-run lottery) in which it was necessary to choose as many numbers as desired from 1 to 90 (there were different possibilities); in the draws, a blindfolded child drew 5 balls from a bag containing 90 balls. The first Lottery draw was held in the Plaza de San Ildefonso, where the Loterías head office was located.

It took almost half a century for our Lotería Nacional to arrive. It was in 1811, in Cádiz, when its creation was approved. However, 4 March 1812 was the date marked in the history of the birth of the Lotería Nacional, since it corresponds to the day on which the first draw in its history was held. The tickets were divided into quarters (instead of tenths), each of which cost the amount of ten reales. The old Lotería Real was renamed the Lotería Primitiva Nacional at that time.

1812 was a year of changes, not only did our Lotería Nacional begin (whose bicentennial was celebrated in 2012) but it was also the year of the promulgation of the Spanish Constitution of 1812, popularly known as ‘La Pepa’. On 19 March 1812, the Cortes Generales promulgated said Magna Carta, which became the first Constitution to be promulgated in our country, and one of the most liberal in the world.

A few years later, in 1818 a special raffle was organised to coincide with Christmas. It can be considered as the origin of the Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad (the Christmas Lottery). Although it would not be until 1839 when the popular Christmas draw began to be held regularly; and it would not be until 1897 when the Christmas Lottery would officially receive that name. In the 1880s another of the emblematic draws appeared: the El Niño draw.

After almost one hundred years of history following the appearance of the Lotería Primitiva, it disappeared in 1862. To fill the gap left by that lottery, it was decided to increase the number of monthly draws for the Lotería Nacional. At that time, around the year 1877, the Loterías headquarters was located in the National Mint (Fábrica Nacional de la Moneda), located between C/ Goya, C/ Serrano, C/ Jorge Juan and the Plaza de Colón in Madrid.

It was the 20th century that brought the greatest innovations in the history of Loterías. Thus, in 1924, one of the most emblematic special prize draws was born, the Red Cross draw, which continues to this day. In 1932, the Loterías headquarters moved to C/ Montalbán in the capital.

In 1946, one of the most popular games run by Loterías was created: La Quiniela. In its first season the results were predicted in goals. Starting the following season, the 1X2 format was introduced for the predictions. In 1963, the Loterías headquarters moved to C/ Guzmán el Bueno.

In 1985 the new Lotería Primitiva arrived, or simply, La Primitiva. A few years later, in 1988, the first BonoLoto draw was held. And in 1993, El Gordo de la Primitiva arrived. The innovations would continue in the 21st century, with the arrival of new games such as the EuroMillions European lotto (2004) in which Spain takes part; the horse racing games Lototurf and Quintuple Plus (2005); and the sporting game El Quinigol (2005), which is very similar to the first Quiniela in history, since now the goals scored are predicted. In 2023 EuroDreams is launched, a European game, completely new in the type of deferred prizes it distributes, and which did not exist until then in the Loterías games catalogue. A game in which winners dream little by little, month by month, always in a reflexive way and aligned with Loterías' responsible gaming values.

Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, since the 18th century, centuries of history, of games, of fulfilled fantasies. If you dream... Loterías.