ONCE
Encyclopedia
ONCE (ˈonθe), or Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (National Organization of Spanish blind people), is a Spanish
foundation
founded on December 13, 1938 to raise funds to provide services for the blind
and people with serious visual impairment
.
Although it is overseen by a board of patrons made up of representatives from various Spanish ministries, it does enjoy a certain amount of freedom of movement in the day-to-day running of its activities, and its general council is democratically elected from among its members.
In June 2006, membership of the organization was 66,851 people, of whom 40% were over the age of 65.
Between them, the three pillars of the ONCE — the General Directorate, the Fundación and CEOSA, ONCE's business corporation — employ over 40,000 blind, visually impaired or sighted staff, as well as people with other disabilities.
, EBU and IBSA, the International Blind Sports Federation.
The Fundación is active in the Paralympic movement and is a founding partner of the European Network for Accessible Tourism
(ENAT), an international organization set up in 2006 to promote accessible tourism
.
One of its acquisitions was a sizeable participation in the Spanish private TV channel Telecinco
and the radio network Onda Cero ("Airwave Zero", based on the ONda CEro acronym). The most visible effect was the Telecinco broadcast of the daily lottery draw, the Telecupón, presented by the highly popular retired actress Carmen Sevilla
.
Critics pointed to the paradox of blind "upstarts" running one of the newly created commercial TV channels. There were also critics who claimed that it was a manoeuvre of the then-ruling party in government, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) to indirectly control the media in general.
Later management teams divested from Telecinco following a major judicial investigation into supposed tax dodges, etc. by the main shareholder, a company belonging to Silvio Berlusconi
's Fininvest
.
ONCE no longer has a stake in either of these media companies, although it does still run a media company, Servimedia, that is a news agency specialising in providing information on issues of social interest, such as disability, integration, corporate social responsibility
, leisure, etc.
lottery
ticket known throughout Spain as the Cupón. Sales of this lottery product are the main source of income for ONCE and can carry huge tax-exempt cash prizes. The draw has different tickets for different days of the week, a special weekend ticket as well as special tickets with higher prizes, usually by season. The draw has for many years been broadcast live every night on Spanish TV channels, including Telecinco
and Cuatro
. It is currently (as of January 1, 2009) on the Spanish television
channel CNN+
.
The basic graphic designs on the cupón stay the same on each day, but the theme changes to correspond to current events. For example, when the Euro
became legal tender, or cultural references such as national or local monuments, etc. Collecting old issues of the cupón has thus become a hobby for many cupón buyers in Spain
.
The Cupón Diario (daily cupón) is drawn daily (Monday to Friday) and costs 1,50 euro. Prizes are as 1,50€ prize for last or first numbers, 540,000 prizes.
The cupón is drawn as a five-digit number and a Series number. Prizes vary from how many of the five digits your cupón has, or the amount of numbers it has plus the Series number. The digits have to be in order to win, from left to right. The lowest prize is effectively a refund of the 1,50€ that was used to purchase a ticket
.
s. These are clearly identified by the word "ONCE" and can be found along the high street, at airports, and in shopping malls. These points of sales employ the blind or partially sighted, which is one of the main goals of ONCE, although by agreement with Fundación ONCE, over the last few years some have become available to persons with other disabilities.
Like Spain's National Lottery agency, ONCE does not sell its lottery products over Internet, and both bodies continuously issue warnings to that effect, as there have recently been a series of scams involving international criminal organisations claiming to operate as authorised agencies of both lottery institutions. Major (tax-exempt) cash prizes are paid directly into bank accounts once the winner has established contact with the organisation through its delegations throughout Spain.
Likewise, to prevent attempts of fraudulent manipulation and counterfeiting, the cupón itself has a number of embedded security features of different kinds, such as optically variable devices, that are extremely difficult to reproduce. The cupón sellers, whether in the street or in kiosks, use electronic reading devices connected to the ONCE's database to check each winning number, as well as the authenticity of the cupón.
, Manolo Saiz
, went on to form the Liberty Seguros-Würth team.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
foundation
Foundation (charity)
A foundation is a legal categorization of nonprofit organizations that will typically either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the source of funding for its own charitable purposes....
founded on December 13, 1938 to raise funds to provide services for the blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
and people with serious visual impairment
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
.
Although it is overseen by a board of patrons made up of representatives from various Spanish ministries, it does enjoy a certain amount of freedom of movement in the day-to-day running of its activities, and its general council is democratically elected from among its members.
In June 2006, membership of the organization was 66,851 people, of whom 40% were over the age of 65.
Between them, the three pillars of the ONCE — the General Directorate, the Fundación and CEOSA, ONCE's business corporation — employ over 40,000 blind, visually impaired or sighted staff, as well as people with other disabilities.
The three pillars of ONCE
While many of their activities overlap, there are, at least formally, three divisions of the ONCE:General Directorate
The General Directorate is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organization, its social and cultural work, and so on. Through its general council, it maintains institutional relations with local, regional and national government bodies, as well as representation on international bodies such as the World Blind UnionWorld Blind Union
The World Blind Union is an organisation of blind and partially sighted persons of the world, representing 180 million blind and visually impaired persons from about 600 different organisations in 158 countries....
, EBU and IBSA, the International Blind Sports Federation.
Fundación ONCE
In 1988 ONCE established the foundation Fundación ONCE to provide professional training and employment, to eliminate architectural, urban and communication barriers and promote "Digital Solidarity": web-based services for people with any disabilities. The Fundación also has its own business arm, Fundosa, with companies dealing with accessibility, industrial laundering, and so on.The Fundación is active in the Paralympic movement and is a founding partner of the European Network for Accessible Tourism
ENAT
ENAT is a non-profit association of tourism enterprises, organisations and individuals from the private, public and NGO sectors aimed at evaluating good practices, as well as providing and endorsing services and products for accessible tourism in Europe...
(ENAT), an international organization set up in 2006 to promote accessible tourism
Accessible tourism
Accessible tourism is the ongoing endeavour to ensure tourist destinations, products and services are accessible to all people, regardless of their physical limitations, disabilities or age. It encompasses publicly and privately owned tourist locations...
.
CEOSA
CEOSA is the business corporation of ONCE and owns, or is a stakeholder in, several companies across a wide range of sectors, including service companies, hotels and food companies. In the 1980s to diversify risk, i.e., any future potential decrease in sales of the cupón, the managers of the then-affluent ONCE started a policy of profit-oriented investment.One of its acquisitions was a sizeable participation in the Spanish private TV channel Telecinco
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish commercial television channel operated by Mediaset España. Launched in 1990 as Tele 5, it was the fifth of the national terrestrial television channels. In 1997, Tele 5 was rebranded as Telecinco, dropping the flower logo seen in other Mediaset channel...
and the radio network Onda Cero ("Airwave Zero", based on the ONda CEro acronym). The most visible effect was the Telecinco broadcast of the daily lottery draw, the Telecupón, presented by the highly popular retired actress Carmen Sevilla
Carmen Sevilla
Carmen Sevilla is a popular Spanish actress, singer and TV presenter. She made her film debut in 1948 in Jalisco Canta en Sevilla. Other roles include Academy Award nominee La venganza, Buscando a Mónica and the 1956 French film Don Juan.She played Mary Magdalene in Nicholas Ray's King of Kings...
.
Critics pointed to the paradox of blind "upstarts" running one of the newly created commercial TV channels. There were also critics who claimed that it was a manoeuvre of the then-ruling party in government, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) to indirectly control the media in general.
Later management teams divested from Telecinco following a major judicial investigation into supposed tax dodges, etc. by the main shareholder, a company belonging to Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
's Fininvest
Fininvest
Fininvest is a financial holding company controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family and managed by Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina Berlusconi.-Structure:...
.
ONCE no longer has a stake in either of these media companies, although it does still run a media company, Servimedia, that is a news agency specialising in providing information on issues of social interest, such as disability, integration, corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
, leisure, etc.
The Cupón
Although ONCE now has several gaming products available, their traditional product and one of the most visible aspects of ONCE is the charityCharitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
lottery
Lottery
A lottery is a form of gambling which involves the drawing of lots for a prize.Lottery is outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to find some degree of regulation of lottery by governments...
ticket known throughout Spain as the Cupón. Sales of this lottery product are the main source of income for ONCE and can carry huge tax-exempt cash prizes. The draw has different tickets for different days of the week, a special weekend ticket as well as special tickets with higher prizes, usually by season. The draw has for many years been broadcast live every night on Spanish TV channels, including Telecinco
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish commercial television channel operated by Mediaset España. Launched in 1990 as Tele 5, it was the fifth of the national terrestrial television channels. In 1997, Tele 5 was rebranded as Telecinco, dropping the flower logo seen in other Mediaset channel...
and Cuatro
Cuatro TV
Cuatro is a Spanish commercial television channel, on air since November 2005. Owned by Mediaset España Comunicación, it is broadcast on the TV frequencies licensed to the previous owner Sogecable in 1990 and previously used by them for the analogue transmission of its pay-per-view channel...
. It is currently (as of January 1, 2009) on the Spanish television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
channel CNN+
CNN+
CNN+ was a Spanish 24-hour television news channel. Launched in 1999 as a joint venture by Sogecable and by Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner that owns CNN; it went off the air at the end of ....
.
The basic graphic designs on the cupón stay the same on each day, but the theme changes to correspond to current events. For example, when the Euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
became legal tender, or cultural references such as national or local monuments, etc. Collecting old issues of the cupón has thus become a hobby for many cupón buyers in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Cupón Diario
The ONCE periodically introduces new products onto the market and the information below regarding the prices and prizes of ONCE products may not be up-to-date.The Cupón Diario (daily cupón) is drawn daily (Monday to Friday) and costs 1,50 euro. Prizes are as 1,50€ prize for last or first numbers, 540,000 prizes.
How it works
Ticket (admission)
A ticket is a voucher that indicates that one has paid for admission to an event or establishment such as a theatre, movie theater, amusement park, zoo, museum, concert, or other attraction, or permission to travel on a vehicle such as an airliner, train, bus, or boat, typically because one has...
.
Where to buy
ONCE lottery tickets are sold on the streets by authorised cupón sellers, as well as in ONCE kioskKiosk
Kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
s. These are clearly identified by the word "ONCE" and can be found along the high street, at airports, and in shopping malls. These points of sales employ the blind or partially sighted, which is one of the main goals of ONCE, although by agreement with Fundación ONCE, over the last few years some have become available to persons with other disabilities.
Like Spain's National Lottery agency, ONCE does not sell its lottery products over Internet, and both bodies continuously issue warnings to that effect, as there have recently been a series of scams involving international criminal organisations claiming to operate as authorised agencies of both lottery institutions. Major (tax-exempt) cash prizes are paid directly into bank accounts once the winner has established contact with the organisation through its delegations throughout Spain.
Likewise, to prevent attempts of fraudulent manipulation and counterfeiting, the cupón itself has a number of embedded security features of different kinds, such as optically variable devices, that are extremely difficult to reproduce. The cupón sellers, whether in the street or in kiosks, use electronic reading devices connected to the ONCE's database to check each winning number, as well as the authenticity of the cupón.
Cycling
From 1989 until the end of the 2003 season, ONCE sponsored one of the leading cycling teams. Whilst hugely successful in sporting terms and as a marketing vehicle, it was a costly project that was increasingly difficult to justify in terms of the ONCE's commitment to social integration of its members. The former directeur sportifDirecteur sportif
A directeur sportif is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event...
, Manolo Saiz
Manolo Saiz
Manuel "Manolo" Saiz Balbás is the former team manager of one of the most successful Spanish professional road bicycle racing teams, first called Team ONCE, then Liberty Seguros-Würth, Astana-Würth, and lastly Astana Team.Saiz was a hands-on manager and directeur sportif...
, went on to form the Liberty Seguros-Würth team.
See also
- ENATENATENAT is a non-profit association of tourism enterprises, organisations and individuals from the private, public and NGO sectors aimed at evaluating good practices, as well as providing and endorsing services and products for accessible tourism in Europe...
- European Network for Accessible Tourism - Nico (also known as Nicholas)Nico (TV series)Nico was a 2001 Spanish animated television series produced by BRB Internacional and the National Organization of the Spanish Blind about the title character, Nico; a boy that is blind...
, an animated TV series ONCE made in association with BRB InternacionalBRB InternacionalBRB Internacional is a Spanish animation studio which is best known for producing 1980s cartoon hits such as Around the World with Willy Fog, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds and The World of David the Gnome....
External links
- ONCE's web page
- Lotería Nacional Official Site Spanish National Lottery web site