It's been a long time that we've pointed out that the Peseta lives on in a disguised form but here is how this second-life exists within the National Lottery.
The Lotería Nacional coughed up a 300,000-euro, First Prize, which landed in the province of Sevilla in Aguadulce (not to be confused with Aguadulce in Almería) and Utrera.
The Second Prize worth 60,000 euros landed much closer in La Mamola, which is the coastal settlement belonging to Polopos.
The first thing is to mention that these amounts are for the whole number so a decimo holder will get a tenth of them; i.e., 30,000 and 6,000 euros, respectively
The second thing is… wait for it…. 30,000 euros is exactly five million pesetas and 6,000 is exactly one-million pesetas.
Anyway, here’s a bit on the history of the Christmas Loteria Nacional:
So, how much did a decimo cost back in 1966, for example? Well, El Gordo, as it has always been known would set you back 500 pesetas (three euros), then in the next ten years the price doubled to 1,000 pesetas (six euros)
The first data from State Lotteries and Betting is from 1966. In that year, buying a tenth for the El Gordo draw cost 500 pesetas, about three euros today. Since then, the cost of dreaming about the first prize has been increasing. In less than 10 years, between 1967 and 1976, the amount to pay for a ticket doubled to reach 1,000 pesetas.
By 1979 the Christmas lottery ticket had doubled again to 2,000 pesetas (12 euros). It stayed that way until 1989 to 1990 when it cost to 2,500 pesetas (15 euros). In the last decade before the euro it increased to 3,000 euros (18 euros).
Then with the arrival of the Euro it reached its present price 20 euros, which is where the cost uncoupled from round Peseta amounts, as 20 euros is roughly 3,232 pesetas, although the weekly Thursday tickets, three euros (500 pesetas) and the Saturday specials that vary between 6, 12 and 15 euros (1,000, 2,500 & 2,500 respectively) remained coupled.
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Frank: Thanks for that 😉 We worked on the “six euros is 1,000 Pees” as a rule of thumb during the first year or so, especially as both currencies were circulating at the same time. That gave us some kind of value sense for the new Euro. I also remember that a million pesetas was known as “un kilo” as a pile of 5,000 notes weighed on kilo in weight, they said. We won’t go into duros y perras gordas! ;.)
It was the same at the beginning of the 70s when New Pence came in and as a rule of thump five new pence was a shilling, which was why they kept the shilling and 2-bob coins in circulation for a long time. Pity about the old 10-bob note, mind!
Nice story, but to set the record a hundred percent straight, I am obliged to point out that the official conversion rate at end -1998 (almost exactly 25 years ago) was 166.386 pesetas for 1 euro. If my calculator is right, 30,000 euros amount to 4,991,580 pesetas, close to 5 million but not exactly. From somebody who worked at the European Central Bank at the time (and should know therefore)