Spain's 2026 Christmas Lottery ad: a heart transplant and a shared ticket

Every year, Spain's Christmas Lottery ad kicks off the festive season. This year's version, 'Corazonada' (a hunch), is about a transplant, a stray feeling and a ticket shared with a stranger.

What happened?

On Friday, Jesús Huerta Almendro, head of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (the state lottery operator), presented the 2026 campaign at the Royal Mint in Madrid. The slogan is "Compartir nos da la vida", or "Sharing gives us life".

The full spot runs five minutes. It follows a man who finally receives a long-awaited heart transplant, and who starts seeing life with more hope. One day he has a hunch and buys a Christmas Lottery ticket.

Then a dog runs up to him, barking. Its owner is surprised, because the animal doesn't usually do that. Sensing a strange bond, the man offers to share his ticket. "Not long ago, someone shared something very important with me and gave me another life," he says, pointing at his heart.

The ad was filmed in Santander, at El Sardinero, Cañadío and the Paseo de Pereda.

What did earlier ads look like?

Spain's lottery ads are a TV tradition, and people remember them. In 2024 the spot was set in Vigo and dealt with emptied-out rural Spain and loneliness, under "Compartir es extraordinario". In 2025, "El sorteo que nos une" told the story of a mysterious ticket kept in a frame for 30 years.

Going further back, 2015 brought the first animated ad, starring night watchman Justino. The 2013 one, with Raphael and Montserrat Caballé, became one of the most parodied.

And the money?

The draw takes place on 22 December and will hand out 2,870 million euros in prizes, 98 million more than in 2025. Every ball in the drums, for both numbers and prizes, will be new.

There are 205 million tickets (décimos, a tenth of a full ticket) on sale. That is 205 series of 100,000 numbers each, seven more series than last year. The total issue is worth 4,100 million euros, and 70% goes back as prizes.

The top prizes per décimo are:

• El Gordo (first prize): 400,000 euros
• Second prize: 125,000 euros
• Third prize: 50,000 euros

This year's ticket shows the central panel of a triptych from the Prado Museum, by the Master of the Half-Figures. The draw has been held at Madrid's Teatro Real since 2012.