El Gordo is the Spanish Christmas lottery that is played by millions of people each festive season. The competition deals out huge sums of money every year and 2021’s edition is no different with an estimated €2.4 billion up for grabs later today, thought to be the biggest ever global prize pot.

       Unlike other lotteries, El Gordo does not allow you to select your own numbers and will generate number selections for you.

       There are 100,000 numbers which you can be awarded, ranging from 00000 to 99999.

       Typically, people buy a 'decimo' (tenth) of a number, with this ticket giving them a shot at winning between 100 euros and 400,000 euros.

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       Entrants can win up to as much as €4 million depending on what numbers are drawn.

       The draw itself can be quite long and protracted for viewers.

       In fact, the winning numbers and the sums awarded to them are sung out by students of Madrid's San Ildefonso school, which was originally an orphanage.

       Anyone looking to enter the competition - including UK residents - will need to set up an account with elgordo.com.

       Once you have completed this step tickets will be automatically generated for you from which you can choose how many to purchase.

       A full ticket for El Gordo costs 200 euros but you can also buy a share of one for 20 euros as part of a syndicate.

       Should you end up with a winning ticket there are slightly different ways as to how you can go about claiming your winnings.

       If you live in Spain you can redeem cash prizes up to the value of 2,500 euros from most lottery vendors.

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       Bigger jackpots can be claimed from certain Spanish banks or the official Spanish lottery organisation.

       Meanwhile, if you do not live in Spain and entered the draw online, your account should be credited with prize money automatically.

       Any winnings from El Gordo must be claimed within three months of the draw and entrants should note that prizes with a value of more than 40,000 euros will be automatically subject to a 20 percent tax.

       Express.co.uk will update you with the winning numbers once Wednesday’s El Gordo draw has taken place.

       Set your watches to 4pm CET as this is when the draw will be made in Spain, or 3pm GMT in the UK.

       Anyone from around the world is free to enter the competition and you do not need to be a Spanish resident to qualify.

       Winners of Wednesday’s draw will secure a share of the estimated 2.4 billion euro jackpot.