The 'unlucky' Christmas lottery number that everyone buys but never wins

"We've played the same number for 122 years – it has never won," explains Jordi, a local from Sant Guim de Freixenet, a small town in Lleida, which has been playing the same "unlucky" number since 1903.

Jordi’s great-grandparents are to blame. One day in 1903, while with friends at a bar, they decided to choose a lottery number by picking five cards, and they drew 11457, a number that has haunted the village ever since.

"We can’t stop buying it, even though it never wins; we have to buy it," says Montserrat, the former owner of the bar where the five friends selected the number.

Now retired, Montserrat continues to play it. "We've played it in every lottery throughout the year, and it's never won. Every week since 1903, we’ve tried our luck, but nothing," she explains.

As the Christmas lottery approaches this year, hope returns to Sant Guim de Freixenet that the "curse" of 11457 will finally end.

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"I couldn’t sit down for Christmas Eve dinner without it – just as 'neules' and 'torrons' are a must, I need to have a ticket with this number in my pocket," says the mayor of the town.

The tradition has spread beyond the village. Locals say people from all over Catalonia now come to town to buy the number, hoping that their bad luck will change.

However, the odds remain the same: one in a hundred thousand. Yet the belief that 11457 will win El Gordo continues, even if in other ways.

"This year, we also played the number backwards, 75411, joking that maybe they got it wrong when they wrote it down 122 years ago," explains Jordi.

If they win, they already know what they'll do with the money – after all, they've had years to think about it.

"I have a trip planned if we win," says Montserrat. If not, the curse will continue, passed down to the younger generations.