The Primitiva today: result of Monday, September 14, complementary, reimbursement, and Joker

In Spain, lotteries like “La Primitiva” (statewide numerical lotteries with jackpots and number combinations) are heavily regulated and, in practice, reserved for the public sector. It is not possible to organize “another private Primitiva” nationwide by simply following general requirements: the legal framework establishes a public monopoly on state lotteries and demands very strict enabling titles for other games.

1. Applicable basic regulations

• Law 13/2011, on gambling regulation (text in BOE, amended by Law 23/2022): sets the general framework for all gambling activities at the state level (public order protection, fraud prevention, addiction prevention, protection of minors and participants, regime of enabling titles, registries, inspection, and sanctions).
• Royal Decree 1614/2011, on licenses, authorizations, and registries (BOE): develops Law 13/2011 regarding general and specific licenses, authorizations and guarantees, as well as gambling sector registries.
• Royal Decree 1613/2011, on technical requirements for gambling activities (BOE): imposes requirements on the technical gambling system (central game unit, random number generator, security, traceability, access control, player identification, etc.).
• Royal Decree 176/2023, on safer gambling environments (BOE): strengthens responsible gambling obligations, risk behavior detection, and protection of vulnerable groups.
• For specific lotteries like La Primitiva, additional specific rules apply (for example, Royal Decree 208/2004, on aspects related to state-owned games, and resolutions from Loterías y Apuestas del Estado regulating the “Lotería Primitiva” product and its modalities).
• On the fiscal side, besides the traditional gambling tax (Royal Decree-Law 16/1977, partially in force), prizes from certain lotteries and bets bear a special levy, implemented through, among other regulations, Orders HAP/70/2013, HAP/2368/2013, and HAC/1431/2025.

2. Who can organize lotteries like La Primitiva

Law 13/2011 reserves statewide lotteries to specific public operators:

• The State Society Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE), a public business entity attached to the Treasury, manages La Primitiva, Bonoloto, Euromillones, etc.
• The ONCE has a specific regime for its lotteries (coupon, instant lottery, and active games) authorized by royal decrees and resolutions from the Secretary of State for Social Rights.

For a private operator, the field is essentially limited to non-reserved games (usually online: sports betting, poker, virtual casino, etc.) and never to “cloning” a national state numerical lottery. Attempting to organize a private Primitiva without legal coverage could be considered unauthorized gambling, with very serious administrative consequences and, in certain cases, criminal penalties.

3. Enabling titles and competent authority

Conducting gambling activities at the state level requires a prior enabling title (art. 9 Law 13/2011):

• General license: authorizes a category of games (bets, contests, other games, etc.), granted after a public call (specifications approved by ministerial orders such as Order HFP/1227/2017).
• Specific license: specific for each type of game within the general license (for example, a type of bet or casino game).
• In certain cases, an individual authorization instead of a license, especially when dealing with reserved or experimental activities.

The authority that processes, grants, and supervises these titles is the General Directorate for Gambling Regulation (DGOJ), which also manages registries (General Registry of Licenses, Registry of Gambling Access Prohibitions, and Registry of Persons Linked to Operators).

4. Solvency, technical system, and player protection requirements

• Economic and technical solvency: regulations require proving capital, sufficient financial resources, experience or technical capacity, and an adequate organizational structure to manage gambling safely and continuously.
• Financial guarantees: Royal Decree 1614/2011 and DGOJ resolutions (such as the one from October 13, 2014) set minimum guarantee amounts linked to each license, intended to ensure prize payments and possible liabilities.
• Approved technical systems: the gambling system must be audited and certified by independent entities, according to Royal Decree 1613/2011 and the technical development regulations (monitoring, operation logging, security, access control, service continuity, etc.).
• Protection of minors and players: obligation to verify identity, consult the Registry of Prohibitions, set deposit or participation limits, offer self-exclusion tools, provide clear information on risks and prize probabilities, and apply protocols for detecting problem gambling reinforced by Royal Decree 176/2023.

5. Taxation and sanctioning regime

• The organizer must comply with the Gambling Activities Tax (Law 13/2011) or other applicable fiscal figures depending on the type of game, as well as apply withholdings and the special levy on prizes from certain lotteries and bets.
• Law 13/2011 establishes a specific sanctioning regime: minor, serious, and very serious infractions with very high fines, suspension or revocation of licenses, and closure of activity, without prejudice to criminal liabilities when there is clandestine gambling or other crimes.

In summary, lotteries “like La Primitiva” are, at the state level, practically reserved exclusively for SELAE and ONCE. Any private numerical gambling project must fit into non-reserved modalities, obtain general and specific licenses from the DGOJ, comply with demanding technical, solvency, and participant protection requirements, and a very strict fiscal and sanctioning regime; a specific legal analysis of the case is essential before planning its organization.

Prize distribution in state lottery games (those managed by the State Society Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, SELAE) is not governed by a single rule but by a block of basic legislation and regulations that sets, on one hand, the general gambling framework and, on the other, the specific rules for each product (National Lottery, Primitiva, Bonoloto, Euromillones, etc.).

1. Basic legal framework for state gambling

The reference regulation is Law 13/2011, of May 27, on gambling regulation (BOE-A-2011-9280). This law:

• Reserves exploitation of state lotteries to SELAE and ONCE.
• Subjects games to license or authorization and to specifications/bases that set, among other things, prize conditions and amounts.
• Requires guaranteeing transparency in prize calculation and payment and diligent use of funds (articles on responsible gambling, game integrity, and security).
• Allows the regulatory authority to limit prize amounts in occasional or sporadic games.

Law 13/2011 has been especially amended by Law 11/2021, of July 9 (BOE-A-2021-11473), regarding taxation and control, and partially by other laws (such as Law 3/2013, affecting some articles), but remains the current framework law for the sector.

2. General rules for revenue and prize distribution

The specific core on revenue and prize fund distribution is found in Royal Decree 419/1991, of March 27, regulating the distribution of revenue and prizes in State Sports Bets and other games managed by the National Organization of State Lotteries and Bets (BOE-A-1991-8272), amended by several later regulations.

Among its developments and amendments are:

• Royal Decree 258/1998, of February 20 (BOE-A-1998-4053): partially modifies RD 419/1991 regarding the participation of the National Professional Football League and the Superior Sports Council in sports betting revenue.
• Royal Decree 98/2003, of January 24 (BOE-A-2003-1587): adjusts article 3.2 of RD 258/1998.
• Royal Decree 566/2010, of May 7 (BOE-A-2010-8121): further adjusts distribution linked to quiniela revenue and its destination (professional football sanitation, stadium security, etc.).
• Royal Decree 403/2013, of June 7 (BOE-A-2013-6079): adapts article 1 of RD 419/1991 to the new Gambling Activities Tax provided in Law 13/2011 and sets, currently in force, the distribution percentages of that tax among provincial councils, the Professional Football League, and the Royal Spanish Football Federation.

For all state games, Royal Decree 208/2004, of February 6, on certain aspects related to state-owned games (BOE-A-2004-2305) is key: its article 4 rewrites article 2 of RD 419/1991 and establishes that, except for the National Lottery, other state games managed by SELAE will allocate to prizes at least 55 % of revenue, and in Primitiva lottery modalities marketed jointly with other lotteries, at least 50 %.

3. Specific regulations by game type

The fine percentages of internal prize fund distribution, categories, jackpots, accumulations, and other details are not set in Law 13/2011, but in the specific regulatory norms of each product, usually ministerial orders or SELAE resolutions published in the BOE:

• Primitiva Lottery and associated modalities: based on Royal Decree 1360/1985 and its development by RD 208/2004, which authorizes SELAE to set modalities, prices, prize categories, and draw days. Prize and jackpot distribution details appear in resolutions from Loterías y Apuestas del Estado.
• Euromillones: the Resolution of February 6, 2004, from Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (BOE-A-2004-2364), and its amendments, approve the rules of the common European game, including 50 % of revenue to prizes, category distribution, jackpot system, and reserve fund.
• National Lottery: governed by the General Lottery Instruction of 1956 and subsequent orders, including the Order of October 17, 2001 (BOE-A-2001-19925), which adjusts amounts and allows SELAE to regulate operational aspects; its bases for each draw (series, fractions, prizes) are published and have regulatory character.
• Other active games (Bonoloto, El Gordo, etc.): regulated by SELAE resolutions (for example, the Resolution of June 22, 2006 for “El Gordo de la Primitiva”), setting price, prize fund percentage, category structure, and jackpot regime.

4. Publicity and rank of each game's bases

In practice, the specific prize distribution in each draw is included in the game rules and, when applicable, in the specific draw bases, which:

• Are approved by resolutions of SELAE or the competent ministry.
• Are published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), giving them the rank of regulatory norm (ministerial order or general administrative resolution).
• Must respect the legal minimums of revenue percentage allocated to prizes and the transparency and control obligations established by Law 13/2011.

In summary, prize distribution in state lotteries relies on Law 13/2011 as the general framework, RD 419/1991 and its amendments (especially RD 208/2004 and RD 403/2013) for revenue percentages and destinations, and a set of specific orders and resolutions for each game, all in force as long as they have not been expressly repealed or replaced in the BOE.

Available information indicates that La Primitiva holds three weekly draws (Monday, Thursday, and Saturday), which amounts to approximately about 156 events per year, with slight variations depending on the calendar. Regarding the revenue evolution in the last decade, publicly available data do not provide a complete annual series game by game, but allow some qualitative conclusions and recent specific figures based on documents and news supported by official SELAE sources.

How many La Primitiva draws are held per year

A recent piece by Demócrata about the August 17, 2026 draw, based on the official programming of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, explicitly states that:

• “La Primitiva holds draws on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. SELAE usually schedules its broadcast at 21:40 hours” (Demócrata).

From this fixed schedule, a reasonable estimate can be made:

• 3 draws per week × 52 weeks ≈ 156 regular draws per year.
• In years where the calendar structure effectively generates 53 “useful” weeks for some days (for example, 53 Mondays instead of 52), the actual number may slightly vary between 156 and around 159 draws.

The sector analysis published by Demócrata on SELAE’s various lotteries also highlights that the Monday draw is a relatively recent addition in the game’s history:

• “The Monday draw is now consolidated and records revenues exceeding six million euros per session” (Demócrata).

That is: today the stable scheme of La Primitiva is three weekly draws, and this pattern is the basis for calculating annual draws, with slight nuances depending on how days fall in each specific year.

Evolution of La Primitiva revenue in recent years

For the revenue evolution in the last decade, the reasonable approach would be to have the complete series by game published by SELAE in its annual reports. The research conducted has located:

• References to the existence of these reports and their use by Parliament and the Court of Auditors (for example, the parliamentary resolution on SELAE auditing, fiscal year 2022, published in the BOE: BOE-A-2025-14671).
• Demócrata articles directly citing aggregated SELAE data and recent behavior of each game.

The monographic article on lotteries by Demócrata, based on SELAE’s annual accounts, offers the most relevant keys:

• SELAE closed 2025 with record sales of 10,586 million euros across all its games.
• Of these amounts, 6,775 million euros were allocated to prizes, and the company obtained a profit of 2,177 million, with a strong contribution to the public Treasury.
• Regarding distribution by games, it is indicated that La Primitiva, Bonoloto, and El Gordo de la Primitiva allocate 55 % of their revenue to prizes.
• About La Primitiva’s specific behavior in 2025, it is noted that “La Primitiva decreased by 0.66 %, although adding Joker the set recorded a slight increase of 0.46 %.”

That is, with the latest accessible data:

• The SELAE group sets a sales record in 2025.
• La Primitiva alone loses some revenue compared to the previous year (‑0.66 %), while the combination Primitiva + Joker grows slightly.
• La Primitiva competes in an environment where other games, like Euromillones or El Gordo de la Primitiva, show somewhat higher growth in the same period.

However, neither the BOE nor the consulted news provide a complete year-by-year series of La Primitiva sales since 2014, only recent variation percentages and global SELAE data. Therefore:

• It is not possible, with the sources used here, to offer an exact annual revenue table for La Primitiva in the last decade without inventing figures.
• It can be stated that La Primitiva remains one of SELAE’s massive and structural games, allocating more than half of its revenue to prizes and having experienced small recent sales adjustments, in a context of a historic record of total income for the state company.

If you need exact amounts per year (in millions of euros) for the last decade, the most reliable way is to download the SELAE annual reports directly from the official website of Loterías y Apuestas del Estado and extract the “sales by game” table, where La Primitiva is specifically broken down.