Questions
What people usually ask, screen by screen. If yours is not here, write to vitalie@porsitoca.es.
Signing in
Why can I not sign up on my own?
Signing up is not open: this is a pool of people who know each other. You only get in with an invitation an admin approved (yours, or a group link they approved), and it records who put it forward.
Somebody sent me a code on WhatsApp. Where do I put it?
On the front page, under “I have a code”. It is the same as the invitation link, for when the email does not arrive.
Does the invitation expire?
A personal invitation does: it expires after seven days and is used up once you use it. If yours has run out, ask whoever invited you for another. A group link does not expire or get used up: it works until an admin cancels it, while the penya is open.
Somebody posted a link in a WhatsApp group. What do I do?
Open it and create your account: name, email and password. A code arrives in your inbox and, once you enter it, you are in the penya, with nobody having to approve you. If you already have an account, the link asks whether you want to join.
The group link gives me an error. Why?
Most likely an admin has cancelled it or the penya has already closed, and then nobody else can get in. Ask whoever posted it in the group for another. If you copied it by hand, check that it is complete.
Do I have to sign up with the address the invitation came to?
No. You can use another one; both are kept. Use the one you actually read, because that is where the notices and the sign-in code go.
Why does it ask for a code every time I sign in?
Because there are ID numbers, IBANs and, if it wins, a lot of money involved. The second factor is always required; there is no “remember this phone”.
The code does not reach my inbox.
Check your spam folder and wait a minute before asking for another; the previous one stops working as soon as you ask for a new one. If it still does not arrive, write to vitalie@porsitoca.es.
Can I use Google Authenticator instead of email?
Yes, and it is quicker. Turn it on in your profile with the QR code; any app that follows the standard works, Google, Microsoft or another. Email is still there in case you lose your phone.
I have forgotten my password.
There is a link on the sign-in screen: a code goes to your inbox. Only one a minute and three an hour are sent to the same address.
What password do I need?
Between 10 and 200 characters, with an upper-case letter, a lower-case letter, a number and a symbol. A space counts as a symbol, so a short phrase works. The list under the field ticks off as you type. It is only asked when you choose one: whoever already has theirs signs in as usual.
Is there an app for iPhone or Android?
There is nothing to download from the App Store or Google Play: the site installs from the browser and sits on your home screen with its own icon, like any other app.
On iPhone: open https://porsitoca.es in Safari, tap the share button (the square with the arrow pointing up), scroll down to “Add to Home Screen” and tap “Add”.
On Android: open https://porsitoca.es in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu and choose “Install app” or “Add to Home screen”.
My tickets
My ticket says “not checked yet”. Is something wrong?
No. It means an admin has not yet compared the photo with what you typed. They all start that way, except the ones an admin registers and the ones added by whoever runs that penya, which start already checked.
Does it count towards my share while it is pending?
Yes, from the first moment. While any are pending the shares you see are provisional, but nobody is left out for waiting to be checked.
One of my tickets was rejected. What do I do?
The reason is on the ticket and reaches you by email: usually the photo cannot be read or the number does not match. Fix it before the closing and it goes back in the queue. While rejected it does not count towards the share.
Can I add a ticket I bought online?
No. Only paper tickets. If an online ticket wins €2,000 or more, the site it was bought from pays it in full to its holder and there is no way to share it out: passing it on would count as a gift.
What are the series and the fraction?
They are printed on the ticket itself, next to the number. The same number is sold in many series, and each book is split into ten fractions: that is what tells your ticket apart from another with the same number.
Why do I have to accept the rules for every ticket?
Because what is stored is not “this person once said yes” but the exact text you accepted for that ticket, with the date and time. If it ever has to be shown that the split was agreed, that is the proof.
It is asking me to accept the rules again. Have they changed?
Yes: there is a new version, and what changed is highlighted. You read it once and choose which tickets it applies to. If you do not accept before the closing, those tickets stay out of the penya.
Until when can I add tickets?
Until the closing time, which is written on “My tickets” and on “The penya”. After that nothing can be added, edited or removed: the list is frozen as it stands.
Can I take a ticket out of the penya?
Yes, until the closing, from the ticket itself. The moment it leaves, everybody else's share goes up.
I have lost a ticket after the closing.
Say so as soon as you can, with the button on the ticket. It leaves the penya, the list is rebuilt and everybody is told, and you answer to nobody for it. Only until the draw starts; after that, no.
I registered a ticket in the wrong penya. Can I move it?
Yes, if you are in more than one penya: under each ticket there is a “Move to another penya”. It takes its photos and your acceptances with it, the shares change on both sides, and if the penya it arrives at has no admin in common with this one, it will have to be checked again. If you are only in one penya you will not see the option, because there is nowhere to move it to.
What is the note on a ticket for?
To remember which is which: “the one the kid picked”, “the one from the shop on the corner”. Only you see it.
Who can see the photos of my tickets?
The members of your penya and its admins, once signed in. They are not in a public folder: the site serves them after checking who you are, and the location data is stripped when they are saved.
The penya
How is my share worked out?
Your tickets over the penya's total. With 6 of 95, your share is 6/95, and you hold that same share in every one of the 95, whoever keeps them.
My share went down without me doing anything.
That is normal: somebody added tickets, so the total went up and every share is worked out again. They stop moving at the closing, and those are the ones that count.
If somebody puts in ten tickets and I put in one, is it worth it?
With 1 of 11 you are playing all eleven numbers instead of one. If the first prize lands on any of them you take 1/11 of it, whether it was yours or somebody else's: that is exactly what the penya is for.
Can I invite somebody?
You can put somebody forward from “Invite someone”, with their name and, if you like, their email. It waits until an admin approves it, and the admin is notified straight away. If there are many, a link for a group is better (see the next question).
How do I invite a whole group?
Under “Invite someone”, further down, there is “One link for a group”. You give it a name (for example “Family”) and ask for it. Once an admin approves it you see it right there to copy and paste into the WhatsApp group. Whoever opens it registers and gets straight in. It does not expire and has no cap on people, and an admin can cancel it whenever they like.
My guest did not get the email or lost the code. What do I do?
Under “Invite someone”, in your approved proposals, press “Resend and show the code” (or “Show the code” if there is no email). A new code and link come out and the old ones stop working. You can do it a few times an hour.
Will I be told if an invitation I put forward is about to expire?
Yes. If the person invited has not used it yet, you get a single email when three of the seven days are left. The guest is not written to. If you give them a new code from “Invite someone”, the clock starts again.
What exactly happens at the closing?
At that hour the list is frozen: who is in, with how many tickets and what share. From then on nothing is added, removed or withdrawn, and the list reaches all of you by email. There is nothing to do: whoever has not withdrawn is in.
Can I leave the penya?
Yes, until the closing, and you take all your tickets with you; everybody else's share is worked out again. After the closing, no.
What is the final list?
The document with the penya as it stood at the closing: tickets, members, shares and which version of the rules each ticket accepted. It reaches you by email and you can download it whenever; in March it will still say the same.
Payout
How much do I get?
The first thing on “Payout”, with your name: “you get X”, already after tax, and below it where each part comes from.
Who pays me?
It depends on the prize: from €2,000 the bank pays you directly into your account; below that, whoever keeps the ticket collects it and sends you your part by transfer. The screen tells you person by person, with the amount.
It says “you share out X”. What does that mean?
That you keep a winning ticket, you collected it and that money belongs to several people. Below you have who, how much, their IBAN and the reference to write, one per person.
Where is a winning ticket cashed?
Under €2,000 a ticket, at any lottery shop: whoever keeps the ticket collects it. From €2,000 up, at a partner bank, with the paper ticket and the participants document, and all members go to the same branch with their ID. “Payout” tells you which case is yours and the steps.
Do I have to go to the bank if we win?
Yes, if a ticket in the penya wins €2,000 or more. All members go together to the same bank branch, each with their original, valid ID; whoever keeps the ticket brings it along with the participants document. The bank identifies you one by one and pays each of you your share into your own account, even if it is at another bank or outside Spain. Under €2,000 there is no need: whoever keeps the ticket cashes it at a lottery outlet and shares it out.
What if I cannot go that day?
You can give someone else, for instance whoever keeps the ticket, a notarial power of attorney to represent you and collect your share. It is signed at a notary's office before going to the bank. Without you or your power of attorney, the bank cannot identify you or pay you your share: tell the administrators as soon as you know you cannot go.
What is the participants document?
The paper whoever keeps the ticket takes to the bank: for each member, name, ID number, IBAN, share and amount. With it and each member's ID, the bank withholds tax per person and pays each one their part into their own account. It is the proof that what each one receives is not a gift.
Why is 20% taken off?
It is the tax withholding. The first €40,000 of each ticket are exempt and split between the participants by share; only what goes above that is taxed at 20%, withheld by the bank when it pays. Small prizes have nothing withheld.
Why is nobody transferring me 40 cents?
Because no transfer under one euro is ever created: sending 30 cents is more bother than it is worth. Whoever collected most absorbs those odd cents, and the screen shows it with their name and figure.
What are the cents that go to one particular person?
Dividing almost never comes out exact. Each person's part is rounded down, so equal shares get equal money, and what is left over (nearly always under three euros) goes whole to whoever collected most, named on screen. There is no kitty: nobody's money is left sitting anywhere.
How long can my part take to arrive?
If the prize is €2,000 or more, the bank pays you, into your account, once it has identified all of you at the branch. If it is smaller, whoever keeps the ticket shares it out, and the rule they accepted gives them seven days at most from collecting it.
What if whoever keeps a winning ticket does not produce it?
That ticket is marked “not collected” and its shares are not paid; it is recorded with the date. Your part of the other winning tickets is untouched: each ticket is shared out on its own.
Is there a deadline to claim the prize?
Yes: three months from the draw. After that the prize expires and nobody pays it, so it is not something to leave for later.
Profile
Why do you want my ID number and my IBAN?
Only for the document taken to the bank if a prize of €2,000 or more comes in: your ID number lets the bank identify you and your IBAN lets it pay you your part. The account can be at any bank, in Spain or abroad. They are used for nothing else.
Are they safe there?
They are stored encrypted, not in the clear. The site admin sees them, and so does whoever keeps a winning ticket of yours, for the bank document, which is what rule 5 you accepted says.
Can I change the language, the theme or the date format?
Yes, all three, in your profile, and the language and the theme from the header on any screen too. Emails reach you in whichever language you have set.
Can I ask you to erase my data?
Yes, from your profile or by writing to vitalie@porsitoca.es. Your name, email, phone, ID number, IBAN and photos are erased; the payout lines that already existed stay without your name, because they are the proof that it was not a gift.
I asked to be erased and I still see my data.
Somebody still in an unfinished penya cannot be erased. Before the closing you first leave the penya with your tickets; after the draw, not until the claim period is over, because your ID number and IBAN may be needed at the bank. Once it can be done, the site admin does it.
What are the digest emails and how do I stop them?
One email a day, and only if something happened in your penya: tickets coming in or out, people joining or leaving. A checkbox in your profile turns it off.
I think somebody got into my account.
Your profile lists the open sessions and you can close them. Change your password: that closes every other one at once. And tell vitalie@porsitoca.es.
Does this site use cookies?
Only the ones needed to work and remember your preferences (the session, the language, the theme, the date format and the folded menu). There is no advertising, analytics or third-party cookies, which is why no banner asks you to accept. The full list is under “Cookies” in the page footer.
Other lottery apps
How is this site different from TuLotero and other lottery apps?
They sell lottery and this does not. On TuLotero you top up a balance, they buy the ticket, they keep it and, if it wins, they pay the prize into your account. Here nothing is bought, there is no balance, nobody holds your ticket and the site never touches money. Everyone buys their own paper ticket wherever they like; the site notes down who put in how many tickets, works out what each one is owed and prepares the paperwork. The money moves between you, by Bizum or transfer, outside of here.
What do those apps do better than this site?
Plenty, and it is worth saying. You do not have to keep the ticket or photograph it, or chase anybody for their ID and IBAN. Under €2,000 they split it themselves: their site says the prize is paid into each account in the share that corresponds to it. From €2,000 there is a bank involved, but they handle it: they ring the holder, you tell them the ticket is shared and they take it from there. If you buy through an app and you are happy, this site adds nothing for you.
And what does this site do that they do not?
Serve a penya that buys on paper and separately. The ticket your uncle bought at the village lottery shop does not exist for a selling app except to be scanned; here it is the normal case: you register it, it joins the penya and it counts towards your share. It also prepares the participants' document for the bank and keeps the trail of who accepted which rules and when. That is what shows the tax office that each person is collecting their own and that the split is not a present from whoever was holding the ticket.
If we buy through an app, can we still split the prize between us?
Inside the app yes, as long as the split is registered before the draw. What you cannot do is collect and then split. SELAE told us that a prize of €2,000 or more from a ticket bought online is transferred already net to its holder's account, and there is no way to split it afterwards without the tax office treating it as a gift. TuLotero's own site says the same: if it is collected and then shared, a gift tax follows. That is why only paper tickets come in here.
Are there more apps like this?
Several. Ones that sell and keep the ticket: TuLotero, Laguinda, Búho de la Suerte —which runs pools and emails each participant their receipt— and the official Loterías app. And there are scanners, like Maxiloto or Lotería Cano, which check any official ticket but organise nothing between people. Of the ones that only organise tickets already bought, like this one, there is very little: the usual thing is still a spreadsheet and a WhatsApp group.
What does this site cost? Does it keep part of the prize?
Nothing, and no. There is no commission, no surcharge on the ticket and it keeps no part of any prize, because the money does not come through here: there is no balance and no wallet. Each ticket costs whatever it costs at the shop where you buy it. Selling apps live on selling, and each one does it its own way; if you are interested, it is on their site.
We already play with one of those apps with friends. Should we switch?
If it works for you, no. This site is not a better version of that, it is a different thing. It makes sense if each of you buys your own paper ticket, if you would rather no company held your money or your tickets, or if the pool has grown so big that running it by hand has become a mess.