The tradition of the El Gordo draw encourages the belief in signs of chance, where the ticket's ending digit becomes a personal talisman. This impulse persists even though the mathematical probability of winning is identical for any number, regardless of its final digit.
Ultimately, we buy endings more based on feeling than on probability, which is identical for any ticket.
The most sought-after final digit in this collective imagination is 5. This ending has been the winning digit for El Gordo approximately 32 times throughout the history of the draw, establishing itself as a “statistical legend” favored by those who believe history repeats itself.
Other popular endings that seem to have a “silent pact with the drum” are 4 and 6, both having appeared about 27 times each. This preference naturally feeds the opposite superstition: avoiding tickets ending in 1 and 2, as they have appeared less frequently in the history of the draw.
