Canadian Lotteries

Have you ever dreamed of the day you’d win it big playing the lotto?

There’s plenty of inspiring Canadian lottery stories going around. In fact, there seems to be a new one every other week. Who knows? It could be your story we’re telling the next time around.  Whether you’re playing the country-wide lottos like Lotto 6/49, or you’re sticking to your local lotto pool – the chances of winning millions are always on the horizon.

To find out everything you need to know about the world of Canadian lotteries, jump into the article down below. We discuss different odds, payout ratios, and explain how to get involved with buying lottery tickets.

Canadian lotteries are governed by different lottery corporations according to each region. There are 5 different corporations in total:

• Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC)
• Loto-Québec,
• British Columbia Lottery Corporation
•  Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
•  Western Canada Lottery Corporation (more commonly known as the WCLC).

The zones where they function are obvious from their names. The different companies regulate the guidelines and the mechanisms of any and all Canadian lotteries within their specified area. They hold regular meetings to discuss improvements. But, together, they form the cheerful community that is the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation. The latter entity is responsible for the ultra-popular lotteries such as Lotto Max and Lotto 6/49.

A juicy piece of Canadian lottery history

In 1973, when Quebec was gearing up to host the Olympics, the Organizing Committee of the 1976 Olympic Games was given the authority to run a lottery scheme to raise money for said Olympics. The Committee could sell its lotto tickets in any province they wanted, provided the province agreed. There were a total of 9 draws that took place between 1973 and 1976. $230 million was raised, most of it used for Olympic prizes.

But, despite this, Quebec still emerged from the Olympics with a substantial deficit. That same year in 1976, Loto-Canada Inc was established to continue organizing Canadian lotteries and continue raising funds to pay off the deficit. This, the provinces were 100% not ok with. Certain provinces mentioned above, which regard the lottery as being one of their main sources of income and their territory, demanded the operation be shut down. Threw a full-on hissy fit. A full three years later – in 1979 – Loto-Canada Inc was finally shut-down. Poor Quebec, in debt it remained.

• Lotto – 1:258,890,850

This is by far still the main type of lottery there is on an international basis. In this game, you basically choose 6 numbers from a range of 0-47 (or 49) on a slip of paper. The numbers are printed onto colorful balls which are placed in a tumbling box and then picked out at random. If all 6 of your numbers are drawn from the pool, you’re in a for ginormous win often breaching the millions. The fewer numbers you guess correctly, the less you’ll win – but you’ll still win something! Fun times, fun times.

The odds of winning these types of lotteries, given that tickets, are bought the country over, is about 1:258,890,850. That only applies to jackpot wins. Smaller wins have much better odds than this and are more achievable.

Multi-State

This type of lotto is mostly played in the U.S.A. Just like the name implies, these are lottos that band together from different states to pool one big jackpot. The odds for winning multi-states lottos are higher, given that you’re competing against more people, but the stakes are higher as well.

Quick Picks

These are tickets randomly generated by a machine. The numbers selected for Quick-Picks are not chosen by the player themselves. They just ask for a Quick-Pick ticket, and the clerk behind the desk will hand over one with the numbers already selected by a machine. Some believe this is a better bet since you’re not relying on your human faculties to choose. But who knows really.

Little Lottos

In Little Lottos, both the number of numbers you can pick and the range of numbers you can pick from are smaller. So, for example, you might have to pick 5 numbers from a total field of 36. That’s instead of the 6/47 average. Since the field is significantly smaller, the odds of winning are higher. Although the jackpot win will definitely not be as big.

• Powerball – 1:292 million

Players choose a combination of 5 white balls and one red ball, making for a total of six balls. In this respect, Powerball is similar to Lotto in that you ultimately need to choose 6 options. Then, 5 balls are drawn twice a week from a tumbling box (a drum) of 59 balls. The red ball is chosen from a separate drum of only red balls. You can really win big with Powerball because the odds of winning are higher than in the normal lotto. However, tickets for Powerball tend to be more expensive. Sometimes even double the price, if not more. In the U.S.A especially, Powerball is extremely popular.

Read more about the Powerball right here.

• Raffle – 1:13,893,916

Raffles are like a subsidiary of lotto games, in that they both run simultaneously. The raffle is kind of like an extra kick to lotto playing which took on a life of its own. Unlike lotto, raffle tickets come with a unique code pre-selected by a machine beforehand. Meaning, players don’t get to choose their own numbers. Then, corresponding tickets are drawn from two big drums on the day of the raffle. If your code matches the code of the raffle ticket drawn from the pool, you’re a winner baby.

One of the most popular raffles is the UK Lotto Raffle, which is known for its high money prizes and its many winners. However, there are other raffles all over the world which anyone can take part in.

• Dailies

  

Dailies take place about twice per day in the U.S.A. Tickets don’t cost much at all, anywhere between 50c – $1. While you obviously can’t win the million dollar jackpots of the main lotto games, you can still win up to $5000 per game. Nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.

In Canada, it’s a little different. Playing something like the Daily Grand can win you $1000 per day. For life. Hence the moniker ‘Daily Grand’ – it actually has nothing to do with drawing a daily ticket. In fact, Daily Grand takes place just twice a week. Tickets cost around $3, and understandably so.

• Scratch-Cards – 1:3 approx

We’re pretty sure everyone knows what a scratch-card is. It’s a form of instant-play lottery. You take a chance, buy a card, and then scratch away the shiny silver foil to see if you’ve won something. It’s a fun way of betting which doesn’t cost you much either way.

There are many different Canadian lotteries, depending on what region you’re looking at. Each of the above mentioned corporations has different lotteries which only it has sole control over. But there are three Canadian lotteries in particular which take place on a national scale, and which everyone and anyone knows about by name. The tickets for these Canadian lotteries are sold by the separate corporations but are ultimately under the jurisdiction of the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation.

Daily Grand  

Like we mentioned a little earlier in this article, the Daily Grand takes place across all of Canada. Players who buy a Daily Grand ticket are in with a chance to win $1,000 per day for the rest of their life! To find out exactly what odds you’re playing against, check out this extensive info table. That’s the best kind of insurance we’ve ever heard of. One $3 ticket will give you a choice of 5 numbers from 1-49 and 1 Grand Number from 1-7. So far, a total of $376,520.00 has been won from Daily Grand across Canada over the period of a month. 

You can either buy Quick-Picks of the Daily Grind, or choose the numbers yourself. Players can even opt for a Combination ticket, where they can combine multiple options. The company claims that this guarantees a win every time. The draws take place every Monday and Thursday, where 5 normal numbers and 1 Grand Number will be selected.

Lotto Max

For Lotto Max, players get 3 sets of numbers for every $5 ticket they buy. Each set comes with 7 numbers, so players get 21 numbers with each ticket. The jackpot starts at a basis of $10,000,000. It can go all the way up to a massive $60,000,000. In fact, on September 23rd 2017, one lucky son of a gun won the whole $60 million. Safe to say that particular player is set for the rest of their life. Lotto Max has given the people a total of $77,346,960.20 sometimes even in just the span of one month.

The Lotto Max lottery takes place every Friday. So go grab your Lotto Max ticket, and maybe you’ll have a little extra to spend for the weekend.

Lotto 6/49

Probably, Lotto 6/49 is the most popular version of Canadian lotteries in the whole of the country. It holds the record for the two largest jackpot wins in CA lottery history: $64 million and $63.4 million respectively. The first happened in 2013, and the latter in 2015. First started in 1982, it was also the first lottery in Canadian history to let players choose their own numbers. A huge total of $6,915,673.50 has been won from this lotto over just the the period of a month.

Every $3 ticket gets the player 2 different sets of numbers. The first set is for the main jackpot draw, where players have to choose 6 numbers from a field of 1-49. The jackpot starts at a minimum of $5 million, and can accumulate over time. The second set is for the $1 million draw pool. Players have a 10-digit set of numbers for the prize draw. This latter prize-draw is for a GUARANTEED win. The $1 million pool is distributed every draw in some way. Lotto 6/49 draws take place every Wednesday and Saturday.

Basically, all Canadian lottery lovers always have a full week ahead of them. Daily Grand on Mondays and Thursdays, Lotto 6/49 on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Lotto Max every Friday. The only days you have lottery-free are Tuesdays and Sundays!

With the coming of the 21st century, came the wide-spread use of the internet and all things online. This spelt excellent news for the casino betting community because it meant that players from around the world could place their bets online.

Online Canadian lotteries are just like the normal land-based kind. Even the type of play is the same:

• Standard: The usual order – get personal entry and a personal ticket. You get to choose your own numbers, and it’s nobody else’s business.
• Syndicate: If you’re looking for some tricks on how to improve your lottery odds, you should try syndicate playing. Instead of going solo, you play in a group and pool your money for better betting options and a better price on your ticket overall. You get around 30 lines in total to choose from.
• Bundle: With this type of ticket order, you get the best of both worlds. You can combine personal and group entries into one beautiful package. Prices get slashed, and you have way more betting options in general.

You can even buy Quick-Picks instead of choosing your own numbers, just like at a lotto shop.

More and more lottery sites are opening up each and every day, so it can get confusing which ones to turn to. We’ve listed just a few of the big names out there right now. These are trusted sites, which are reliable and safe in terms of monetary transactions and legal legislation.

1. Canada Lottery Online: This casino offers services to Canadians living in the country and even Canadians living outside the country alike. It mostly sells tickets for international lotteries, rather than national ones. That includes Euromillions from various countries, Powerball and the UK Lotto.
2. Lotter: This whopper of a site has been around since 2002. It offers membership to players from all over the world. And it sells tickets for CA lotteries like Lotto 6/49 and Ontario 49, in addition to many other lotteries from many other countries.
3. Lottoland: Lottoland only recently opened its services to Candian players as well. It has the whole shebang on offer – keno, scratch-cards, Mega Millions, Powerball – you name it. Except, it seems, tickets for Canadian lotteries. But as Canadian players, you can still take advantage of all the other enticing lottery games. 

Are lottery winnings taxed in Canada?

No, lottery winnings are not taxed in Canada unlike in other countries. This is because of the Canada Revenue Agency windfall rules. These rules state that people do not have to declare their winnings or pay tax on them.

How old do you need to be to play the lottery in Canada?

According to Canadian laws, persons must be at least 19 years old to play the lottery. This applies both on/offline.

Which lottery is the easiest to win?

Lotto 6/49 –  1 in 14 million 

The world of Canadian lotteries, both online and not-online, is a vast and exciting one. With so many affordable options available, you too could be throwing in your lot with all the rest. Just like you, people who are now millionaires took a chance and won big time. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll ever become this level of rich – but, heck, it’s worth it just for the fun of it.

Want to try a game of lotto? Head on over to the sites we just mentioned above, or head out to a lotto store. Buy a ticket and wait for that magic draw!