The 6 oldest lottery administrations in Spain
The oldest lottery administration in Spain is the Virgen de Gracia, located in the Seville town of Carmona. It recently celebrated its 257th anniversary but in Sagunto, Valencia, they claim that "La Caruana" is the oldest office in the country.
The origins of the current operator of lotteries and games of chance, Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (legally, Sociedad Estatal de Loterías y Apuestas del Estado), date back to 1984 with the creation of the Organismo Nacional de Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (ONLAE). Actually, the birth of lotteries dates back to the 18th century when the Lotería Primitiva (1763) and the Lotería Nacional (devised in 1811) were created. Today in Spain there are more than 10,000 lottery administrations and mixed points of sale, according to the latest data from Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, but... do you know which are the oldest lottery offices in the country? We tell you their history.
Virgen de Gracia (Carmona, Seville) - 1764
Five years of research took Valentín Pinaglia, in charge of the administration since 2007, to document that his office located in the Sevillian town of Carmona is the oldest in Spain. According to a document dated 1764 and kept in the city"s Municipal Historical Archive: "the city is informed by the mayor of a letter from the assistant on 20 February regarding the establishment and promotion of a lottery by order of His Excellency the Marquis of Esquilache".
The document found by Valentín Pinaglia, who has been linked to this same administration since he was 14 years old, joins another one in which his great-great-grandfather, Cristóbal Medina y Cansino, administrator in 1831, is mentioned. Since then, eight generations of the same family have run this business, which uses a stamp, authorised by Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, attesting to the fact that they are "the oldest lottery administration in Spain".
Los Picos de la Suerte (Segovia) - 1773
Just ten years after Carlos III founded the Lotería Primitiva, Segovia"s administration number 1, Los Picos de la Suerte, was born, an office that has remained open ever since in the hands of the same family generation after generation.
Located in the old quarter of Segovia, declared a World Heritage City, the façade displays a sign that reads: "Lotería Los Picos de la Suerte. Fulfilling your dreams since 1773".
La Caruana (Sagunto, Valencia) - 1790
They have been "fighting" for years with the Virgen de Gracia de Carmona administration for the honorary title of the oldest lottery administration in Spain. The administration number 1 of Sagunto, known as "La Caruana", after the surname of its current managers, defends that "there may be older administrations but they have the documentation of the administrative concession, at the moment the one that has been found with the oldest date is ours, the one in Sagunto, which was granted to Diego Larcada in 1790". This is the explanation given by Isabel Clemente in a statement published by the website 65ymás.com, who continues to boast that she works in the oldest lottery administration in the country despite the warnings she receives from Carmona.
Lottery Administration nº1 (Madrid) - 1818
"The oldest", reads the blue awning of this lottery administration that was formerly located in the San Luis network, a space at the current junction of Montera and Gran Vía streets. At the end of the 1950s it moved to its current location, at number 98 Santa Engracia street, in Madrid"s Chamberí neighbourhood.
Del Rosario (Zaragoza) - 1860
The first references to the existence of lottery administrations in Zaragoza date back to 1860, according to the Zaragoza Guide published that same year by Vicente Andines. Since then, Lotería del Rosario has passed through different premises located next to the Plaza de la Basílica de la Virgen del Pilar. First in Calle San Gil, an old Roman road, later in the famous Tubo de Zaragoza and nowadays in one of the most commercial areas of the Aragonese capital, next to Plaza de España, near the Roman Theatre, at number 11 of Calle Don Jaime I.
In 1947 the administration number 5 was taken over by Del Rosario Julia Lobera, the grandmother of the current owner.
Lotería Sol (Madrid) - 1876
"Lotería Sol" or "Lotería de los Gordos" is one of the most popular lotteries in Spain. Located in Puerta del Sol, there are graphic documents that attest that in 1876 it was already located in its current location. In 1936, in the middle of the Civil War, a shell hit the entrance door, but not even that could destroy this mythical office.
Since 1959 it has been run by the pharmacist Ángel de Marco and now it is his daughter, Paloma de Marco, who is in charge of it.
#DreamTogether
Photo: Paco Puentes / El País
