The Spanish National Organisation of the Blind is a public law corporation with 59,408 affiliates, as of December 31st 2000, broken down into 30,262 men and 29,146 women. Membership of the Organisation is open to Spanish blind and seriously visually impaired persons, whose visual acuity or field of vision is less than or equal to ten per cent of the normal values.
The ONCE was founded on December 13th 1938 and, since 1982, its members have democratically elected their leaders every four years.
The ONCE's principal source of income is a lottery that the ONCE itself runs through a state concession, thanks to which it is able to carry out all the good social work the institution undertakes. The 'coupon' (the popular name for this lottery) provides a decent, stable job for 23,000 salespersons, 15,000 of whom are blind and visually impaired affiliates, while the rest are persons with other disabilities. The 'coupon' accounts for over 11% of the total Spanish gaming market.