Think About the Lotto Max Odds: Here’s a Primer on CBC’s $90M Draw
A record jackpot awaits
Friday’s $90-million Lotto Max prize would set a new Canadian lottery record. Draws are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 10:30 p.m. ET. Tuesday’s $85-million jackpot went unclaimed, allowing the prize pool to grow. The previous record was $80.4 million, won by two friends in London, Ont., last December.
The odds of winning
The OLG says a $6 play has a one-in-33-million chance of winning the main jackpot. That probability is close to the odds of getting heads on 25 consecutive coin flips, estimated at one in 33.5 million.
The article also says an asteroid impact killing someone on the way to buy a ticket is more likely than winning the $90-million prize. Even so, lottery winners continue to emerge as jackpots rise.
Past prizes set records
Lotto Max’s first $80-million draw took place in September 2024, with the prize shared by winning tickets in Ontario and Quebec. The first $70-million prize came in 2020, while the first $65-million draw was in 2019.
In 2005, 17 oil and gas workers from Alberta split a $54-million jackpot. Before that, four tickets shared a $37.8-million Super 7 prize in 2002.
Key points
- Friday’s $90-million Lotto Max draw would be Canada’s largest lottery prize ever available to win.
- The jackpot odds are one in 33 million per $6 play, according to the OLG.
- Tuesday’s $85-million prize rolled over after no one claimed it.
- Two friends in London, Ont., won the previous record prize of $80.4 million last December.