When pesetas were exchanged for euros in Spain on January 1, 2002, the tenth of the Christmas lottery, like many other things, was rounded up: it went from 3,000 pesetas (about 18 euros) to 20 euros. But there it remained. The main product of the lottery administrations has been frozen for 23 years, and the lotteries, which have been complaining for some time, are more than fed up. This year, the lead-up to the Christmas Lottery has been accompanied by growing unease among government owners, who admit that they are making more noise than ever because they are losing more and more purchasing power. Firstly because they cannot increase the price of tenths; later, because prices do not increase either and, even if sales increase, they fear that in the future they will no longer be as attractive to young people; and finally, because on each Christmas lottery ticket they only charge a commission of 4.5% (90 cents), while on other draws they charge 6%. “People think we are millionaires, because we sell lottery tickets, but we are independent like everyone else and some of us have financial difficulties. We cannot even touch the margin or the product, and meanwhile the cost of living increases,” explains Jorge Arta, who runs an administration of the same name in Ourense.
Arta is also vice-president of ANAPAL, the association of provincial lottery administrations. He explains that before, having a lottery administration was a safe activity with profitability perhaps not very high, but guaranteed. No more. “Of course, we can live from an administration, but it no longer gives benefits, what it gives is a salary to survive. Everything has increased and ours has not increased, we have been in the same conditions for many years,” he explains. In this reality there are differences: it is not the same to have an administration in a city where rental costs are not very high as in a city, and it is not the same to have premises in a busy area with a lot of activities as in an area with less. But Arta explains that the entire sector, made up of 4,200 points of sale, is worried: “25% of all administrations charge less than 60,000 euros gross per year, from which all costs must be subtracted. Many say ‘well, for that I’m going to put it up for sale and I’m going to work at Mercadona’,” emphasizes Arta.
The lottery administrations market the products of the public company Sociedad Estado Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE): the different games of the National Lottery, Primitiva, Bonoloto, Euromillones or Quiniela, among others. In total, the product catalog is made up of 103 different draws with different periodicities. But as Borja Muñiz, president of ANAPAL, explains, the most important thing for all administrations is the Christmas Lottery draw. On average, this represents around 40% of the annual turnover of each administration. And with the Niño raffle, celebrated on Three Kings Day, they represent more than half of sales.
“The Christmas one is very important and, coincidentally, it is the only one where we charge less per tenth. We charge 4.5% while in the rest of the draws, including that of Niño, we charge 6%”, explains Muñiz. This is the first requirement: that the commissions all be equal to 6%. “It’s the time of year when we work the most, some have to hire additional staff and it’s the time when we earn fewer commissions,” complains Guillermo Rodríguez, 57, a lottery operator in Zaragoza for 29 years. Rodríguez works with his wife, and between them “it happens”, but he admits that he has to work long hours: “I leave early in the morning to deliver to the bars and restaurants that have our numbers, then I spend the whole day in administration, then I return to deliver and I come home at eleven in the evening,” he explains. “The most famous people don’t have to worry, but the rest of us have to get around to putting in the numbers,” he says. “Not everyone is Doña Manolita,” Muñiz recalls. In addition to all expenses – staff, internet, rent, electricity, etc. – there is another expense that ends up being almost fixed for lotteries: the lottery itself that they purchase. “I spend around 400 euros on the lottery, I buy 10 numbers that I own and others for my family,” explains Arta. “I play, during the week I also play primitive games, then figures that we see every day and that attract attention… but I reduce, because it doesn’t work,” says Rodríguez.
X-ray of the tenth
Of every tenth of the Christmas Lottery, which costs 20 euros, 70% goes to the prizes. And 30% goes to SELAE, where management fees, advertising costs and lottery commissions come from, among other things. This has not changed since 2002, the last time the price of the tenth was increased, whereas previously the price was updated approximately every ten years. The president of ANAPAL has information which nevertheless illustrates the evolution of the costs of an administration: “23 years ago, we had to sell 550 tenths to pay a worker. Today, we have to sell 1,470, or almost triple.” This is why the association is asking to increase the tenth to 25 euros initially, even if it believes that it should already be 30 euros.
The prizes increased, as the balls were added to the pot until reaching 100,000 numbers, but it is no longer possible to add more, and the last time the Jackpot increased was in 2011, when it reached the current 400.00 euros, which after retention, remains at 328,000 euros. ANAPAL requests that it amount to 500,000 euros. Muñiz specifies that tenth sales continue to grow, but fears that prices are no longer attractive, especially for young people, because in some cities they are no longer even enough to buy an apartment. “Sales of tenths are increasing, but they no longer compensate at all for the loss of purchasing power,” he explains.
Manuel Caballero obtained a license in Seville in 1998, hence the name of his administration. He sums up the evolution of the company very clearly: “At that time, we lived well, we had money to go and live for a week. seaside resort“Caballero has already led a series of protests in 2021, which they called ‘Wednesdays in the Sun’, which ended up forcing the company to increase the Christmas lottery commission by 0.5%, to the current 4.5%. “They did it to shut our mouths, but it’s a shame the conditions we are in. Lotteries are the crown jewel, we give it to the state. 3 billion euros per year is clean and they don’t worry about us,” he says.
Caballero is also part of a small group, made up today of 56 lotteries, which are the last among the hundred that refused to change their administrative concession for a commercial contract, when in 2009 the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero wanted to privatize the lotteries, which ultimately did not happen. “Now the 56 of us left cannot sell the concession or pass it on to our children, it was a punishment for opposing this,” he explains. However, he remains very attached to the company. At 78, he is already retired, but he accompanies his wife, who runs the establishment, everywhere. “He who runs a lottery dies as a lottery player,” he said.
About The Author
