Lotto 6/49 – Canadian Lottery

Do you know there is a saying in Canada that ‘You’ve got to be in it to win it”! Also Canadians are lottery fans having their winning attitude. Moreover, lotteries in Canada contribute to schools, the arts, healthcare, community programs all for a good cause.

 It is very easy to get a lottery ticket these days and you don’t have to stand on long queues to get your ticket. If you live in British Columbia or Atlantic Canada, you can now purchase lottery tickets online and play from the comfort of your own desktop or mobile device.

Living in a jurisdiction where you can’t purchase lottery tickets online, Canada is still a pretty great place to buy lottery tickets. No matter where you live from coast to coast, you can play the Canadian lottery at your local convenience store, gas station, or grocery store.

About Lotto 6/49 – Canadian Lottery

Launched on June 12, 1982, Lotto 6/49 was the first nationwide Canadian lottery game to allow players to choose their own numbers.

You can play online or offline.

To play online visit the Canadian lottery official websites like OLG or Play Now.

Or

Download their apps to buy the tickets.

Play offline by visiting your nearest lottery retailer and get the ticket.

Classic Play	Gold Ball Jackpot
Six numbers from 1 – 49 are drawn for a top prize of a fixed $5 million jackpot. You can win prizes ranging from a Free Play up to the jackpot.	Each $3 LOTTO 6/49 play includes a unique 10-digit Gold Ball Draw Number.  A winning number is drawn from all selections for each draw. Once a winning number is drawn, a separate Gold Ball Jackpot Draw will determine the prize – the Gold Ball Jackpot OR a $1 million prize. The Gold Ball Jackpot starts at $10 million and can reach up to $68 million.

As the name suggests, six numbers are drawn out of 49 numbers.

Alternatively, opt for Quick Pick, where numbers are randomly selected by the terminal.

A ticket needs to have all six numbers to be correct before the jackpot is won. This jackpot is at least $5,000,000 worth.

To make the chances of winning something a little bit larger, an extra bonus number is added. Should a ticket only have five numbers correct, and also the bonus number, then the ‘second prize’ is won.

This prize varies between $100,000 and $500,000. Should more people have winning tickets, prizes will be divided amongst them.

Lower prizes are also paid for tickets that have four, three or two winning numbers. If the jackpot is not paid out, the standing amount will get higher at the next draw. This is called a ‘rollover’.

SUPER DRAWS	GROUP PLAY	COMBINATION PLAY
Lotto 6/49 Super Draws offer Additional Prize Draws on top of the two big jackpots. Every Lotto 6/49 ticket purchased for Super Draw dates will have a chance to win the Classic Jackpot, the Gold Ball Jackpot, subsidiary prizes plus the Additional Prize Draws.	Create a group, invite your friends and skip all the busy work so you have more time for fun!	You have multiple selections with Combination Play, so you can win multiple prizes! Options include five-, seven-, eight- and nine-number Combination Plays. For every unique selection you get for the Classic Draw, you also receive a 10-digit Gold Ball Draw Number.

Lotto 6/49 – Lottery Ticket

Standard Lotto 6/49 ticket: $3 per play

A ticket can have multiple ‘lines’. One line is a set of six numbers chosen by the player. Therefore, players can play with more than one set of their favorite numbers, or the family can join in.

A maximum of 10 lines can be printed on one ticket, yet not all Canadian regions allow this much lines. For example, the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) regions only allow six lines per ticket.

Also, a code of ten numbers is printed on the ticket. This is an extra raffle draw with a prize of $1,000,000. There are no extra costs to enter this raffle, and this way everyone who bought a ticket has a chance of winning. Since 2013, one play/line costs $3.

Lotto 6/49 – Draw

Every Wednesday and Saturday, the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation organizes the draw at 21:10 ET. Tickets are for sale up to 10 minutes before the start of the draw and can be bought at official selling points or through the Lotto Tickets website. The only restriction is that a person must be over 18 to be able to purchase a ticket.

Click here to know the rules of 649

The online live stream videos to watch the draws are available. But the winning numbers can also be found on the websites of the various lottery organizations, newspapers, and several lottery apps.

Should someone win a prize, claiming that prize can be done up to 12 months after the draw date, and up to today, lottery prizes in Canada are tax-free for the residents.

Non-residents should check the tax legislation in their country as lottery winnings may be taxable locally. Remember the Drawing Days are Wednesday and Saturday and  the Draw Method is Mechanical Lottery Ball Machine.

Biggest Win

• The largest jackpot in the history of the Canadian lotteries was paid out in 2013, with a jackpot of $63,4 million and there were four winning tickets for this prize. Three tickets were purchased in British Columbia and one in Alberta.
• The second largest jackpot was drawn in 2005. There was only one winning ticket, but it was bought by 17 persons who all worked at the same oil and gas company. All 17 together won the jackpot of $54,3 million.
• The third largest jackpot was worth $50,3 million and was drawn in 2009. Also here, the prize was divided between four winning tickets.

Extra Addition of Games

To make the Lotto 6/49 Canadaian Lottery game even more exciting, the different lottery corporations added extra flavor to it by inventing extra games.

The first extra game (named “Tag”, “Encore” or “Extra” depending on the region) costs additional $1 and consists of one or two extra numbers.

Depending on the region of Canada, this can be either a 6th or a 7th number. The 6th number can bring the winner an amount of $100.000, but the 7th number can be worth $250.000 to $1,000,000.

Another game is the “49”. It’s more a parallel to the official 6/49, but this game has a fixed jackpot. This means that a winner can either win $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 (region dependable). The cost of this extra game is 50 cents per line, but in some regions the lines are sold only by two at a time (so, it makes $1 as well).

Probability of Winning

Mentioned in the following Table are the chances of winning a prize:

Matches	Prize	Odds
6 out of 6	Jackpot of around 79,5% of the pool’s funds	1 in 13,983,816
5 out of 6 + bonus number	6% of the pool’s funds	1 in 2,330,636
5 out of 6	5% of the pool’s funds	1 in 55,492
4 out of 6	9,5% of the pool’s funds	1 in 1,033
3 out of 6	$10	1 in 56,7
2 out of 6 + bonus number	$5	1 in 81,2
2 out of 6	Free game	1 in 8,3
10 out of 10,Guaranteed Prize Draw	$1,000,000	Variable

The chances of winning anything is about 1 in 6,6. However, most prizes consist of a free ticket for the next draw. This is not exactly ‘winning’, but people do get another chance of winning the next time.

Winning a Prize

• Retail Prizes: Under $1,000 can be claimed at retailers.
• Higher Prizes: Must be claimed at regional lottery offices.
• Online Wins: Credited directly to your account or through a claims process depending on the amount.

Tickets should be signed by the winner before a claim can be made. Photocopies and pictures are also a good way to ensure any winnings.

Prizes can be redeemed by the lottery retailers or, if the amount is higher than $250, by calling the special (regional) lottery phone numbers.

A copy of an ID card is required to be able to claim any prize and groups will be required to fill in a “Group Agreement Form” before any payments are done.

Conclusion

Lotto 6/49 is most popular Canadian lottery offering life-changing jackpots, a fun draw format, and accessible play. While winning is never guaranteed, the thrill of participating and the chance to become an instant millionaire continues to draw millions of Canadians twice a week.

Lotto 6/49 is a game of chance, and no system can guarantee a win. So set a budget and play responaibly using game sense.

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