Teatre Tarragona hosted, this morning, the unveiling event of the lottery ticket known as cupón by ONCE designed after the 29th Concurs de Castells de Tarragona and that is meant to be available on Sunday, the 6th of October. In total, 5.5 million lottery tickets with the image of the largest castells event in the world will be distributed.
Josep Vilaseca, director of ONCE in Tarragona, and Rafaela Pérez, first vice-president of Consell Territorial of ONCE in Catalonia, handed a framed sample of the ticket to Rubén Viñuales, Mayor of Tarragona. Sandra Ramos, Consellera de Cultura of the Tarragona city council; Xavi Gonzàlez, director of Concurs de Castells, and Ester Roca, castells director of Concurs de Castells, were also present in the event. In the same way, representatives from colles Xiquets de Tarragona, Colla Jove Xiquets de Tarragona, Xiquets del Serrallo and Castellers de Sant Pere i Sant Pau, as well as a dozen of visually impaired users from ONCE, did not miss the unveiling.
The Major of Tarragona thanked ONCE for “choosing Concurs de Castells for one of their lottery tickets. This is a really important dissemination and promotion element of our castells culture and also our people”. He added that “Tarragona is about castells, but also about community. We are people that build, watch and enjoy them; it is something just as big as ONCE”.
“From ONCE Catalunya, we are joining Concurs de Castells ─which is lived by the people from Tarragona, as well as all the colles that put their dedication and devotion into it─ with the best we can offer: the ticket or cupón”, said, on the other hand, Josep Vilaseca. Rafaela Pérez also added: “Castells are yet another example of the inclusion of visually impaired people into the society, this time as part of the colles”.
The Concurs de Castells is one of the most traditional events of the castells calendar. It is a unique and singular castells performance from various points of view: it is the only castells event that has an explicit competitive format; it stands out due to the sheer number of participating colles, 42 in total, invited following a classification system, the Rànquing Estrella Concurs, which is built based on the achievements from the year prior to the Concurs. It is also an extraordinary show that raises great expectations from those involved, but also from the rest of the world.
The will of the Tarragona City Council, the organisers of the Concurs de Castells, is for this event to become a true celebration for the entire castells family and, at the same time, the perfect window and engine for what was included by UNESCO in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The so-called weekend “Sueldazo” by ONCE offers, every Saturday and Sunday, a main prize for the 5 numbers and series of 300.000 euros, plus 5.000 euros per month for 20 consecutive years to a single winning ticket. Also, additional prizes of 2.000 euros per month for 10 consecutive years to 4 winning tickets. ONCE tickets are sold by 19.000 agents from the Organization, 2.400 of them based in Catalonia. These tickets can also be purchased at www.juegosonce.es and other authorised collaborators.
ONCE tickets are part of a lottery that is social, safe, responsible and solidary from the Organisation which, from its design to its commercialisation, implements controls in order to neutralise uncontrolled spending, specifically prohibits selling to minors or buying using credit, among other measures. The Organisation keeps a responsibility with the people promoting a policy of responsible gambling thanks to the most demanding evaluation and tracking systems, as defined by the World Lottery Association and the European Lottery Association.
