Canada 6/49 Lotto

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.
Canada offers lottery players a large variety of games. These lotteries are country-wide controlled and operated by the Inter-provincial Lottery Corporation (ILC), since 1976. As Canada is a very large country, it’s divided into five regions, each with its own provincial lottery commission:

• Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC)
• British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC)
• Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG)
• Loto-Quebec
• Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC)

Together they cover the whole country – governmental provinces, and territories. There are two country-wide lottery games controlled and overseen by the ILC – the Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max.

About Canadian lottery -Lotto 6/49

Launched on June 12, 1982, Lotto 6/49 was the first nationwide Canadian lottery game to allow players to choose their own numbers. Previous national games, such as the Olympic Lottery, Loto Canada and Superloto used pre-printed numbers on tickets. Lotto 6/49 led to the gradual phase-out of that type of lottery game in Canada. It was the first time you could play Canadian lottery by picking your own numbers.

How to play 6/49

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

The Rules of 6/49

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 6/49 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:

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

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.

Online Play Availability

Canadian Lotto 6/49 is available to play via the Internet. To do this you must use online lottery platforms as named above and even download their respective apps to play this lotto. These apps work as your agents. You purchase digital ticket on the site and a company associate in a country of lottery’s origin buys the actual ticket for you. Also check your results instantly without going physically to any store.
Share your experience with Lotto 6/49. We would love to hear it!