The mistake of calling out a lottery number that hasn't come up.

BarcelonaThis Monday's draw is the first Christmas Lottery draw after the ruling that has proven the negligence that occurred in 2021The inspectors failed to immediately report, as required by the regulations, the numbers that the children of Sant Ildefons had incorrectly called out. In total, there were 56 smaller prizes, amounting to 9.6 million euros. The correction was made directly to the official list sent to the lottery offices, meaning that all those who believed they had won while watching the draw live were never able to claim their prize.

Now that the ruling is final, the Barcelona law firm that filed the lawsuit has identified another 52 errors in the 2024 draw—a similar amount to those in 2021—and is not ruling out initiating new legal proceedings if the lottery organizers do not rectify the situation. Lawyer Olga Majoral believes the ruling should have some impact on Monday's draw: "If there are no changes, the discrediting will be absolute."

This spring, Madrid's Court of First Instance No. 102 resolved a years-long legal dispute with a ruling that found the lottery workers "failed in their duty of oversight" when supervising the children who sing out the numbers. None of the parties involved appealed the ruling, which is now final. According to Majoral, this implies that the State Lottery and Betting Company "accepts" the negligence.

"Now we'll see if anything changes or if the negligence continues. If nothing is done, it will mean that they are somehow acting against the court's decision," says the lawyer, who sued the State Lottery in civil court, representing herself, after receiving several complaints about the newborn. The April ruling focused solely on the 2021 draw, but the lawyer claims that it essentially amends the way the draw is run, in which "the observers act as mere bystanders."

Correct errors live

For the lottery draw to correct the negligence established by the court ruling, Majoral says it should "for the first time see the auditors fulfilling their duties." That is, they should confirm that the numbers called out by the children of Sant Ildefons are indeed the same as those on the balls drawn from the drums and warn of any errors the children might make. These errors, he emphasizes, must be corrected immediately, during the live broadcast of the draw, giving "the same publicity" to the correct number as to the incorrect one. With the larger prizes, measures are already being taken to verify the winning number live, and the camera zooms in close enough for the digits to be clearly visible. Since the lawsuit Majoral filed in 2022, he asserts that there have been some changes in the draw's operation, although, he says, the National Lottery "has not acknowledged" that these changes are due to the legal proceedings.

Before the balls are drawn from the drums, an announcement is made warning that children might make a mistake with some numbers and that the valid numbers are those published in the official list a few hours later. In the 2022 draw, Majoral adds, the numbers on some worn balls that could lead to confusion were also repainted, for example, between an 8 and a 0 or between a 7 and a 1. "They did this without making any reference to the ruling and tried to conceal its existence."