Unlike our own National Lottery, Canada has several lottery companies running draws throughout the country. The one I’m going to talk about is Canada’s favourite Lottery, Lotto 6/49. Lotto 6/49 was the first lottery draw to allow Canadians to choose their own numbers, launched in June 1982, draws are held every Wednesday and Saturday like our very own National Lottery.

How to Play Lotto 6/49 Canada

Play Lotto 6/49 Canada Here

Tickets for Lotto 6/49 cost $2 each and as the name implies 6 out of 49 numbers are drawn and to win the jackpot, which is always guaranteed to be at least $3.5 million you need to match all 6 numbers. Game prizes vary from week and payouts are dependent on the pool fund, below is an estimated payout table outlining odds and the numbers you need to match to take home a cash prize.
 

Match	Prize	Odds/$2 Play
6 of 6	Share of 80.50% of Pools Fund	1: 13,983,816
5 of 6 + Bonus	Share of 5.75% of Pools Fund	1: 2,330,636
5 of 6	Share of 4.75% of Pools Fund	1: 55,491
4 of 6	Share of 9.00% of Pools Fund	1: 1,032
3 of 6	$10 (Fixed)	1: 57
2 of 6 + Bonus	$5 (Fixed)	1: 81

Like our own National Lottery you can play Canada’s Lotto 6/49 by choosing your own numbers on their specially designed lotto slips or you can choose the quick play option which works in the same way as our own Lucky dip system.

Like the National Lottery the prize rolls over draw on draw if not won on Canada’s Lotto 6/49 making some really big jackpots like the Canadian record $54.3 million won in October 2005 in Camrose, Alberta and was shared between a syndicate of 17 employees from a local Oil and Gas plant. The Jackpot was originally estimated to be around $40 million but Canada was struck with Lotto fever, creating a sales peak of 100 tickets purchased every minute and amazingly 2 out of every 3 Canadians were estimated to have purchased a ticket, making the jackpot grow to a massive $54,294,712 for this draw held on October 26th 2005.

These huge jackpots are helped by ticket prices being raised from $1 up to $2 in June 2004, this raise ensured the minimum jackpot went from $2 million up to $3.5 million to be won on every single draw. You can purchase up to 10 lines on every ticket, with the exception of certain jurisdictions such as the limits enforced by the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC) which limits the maximum lines permitted to 6 per draw.

Lotto 6/49 has become a significant part of Canadian culture and is popular throughout the country and media coverage is extensive, although it has mixed feelings from the ‘social conservatives’ it is considered to be the ‘soft gambling’ option in comparison to casinos for example.