Baloto: Rules, Price & Odds

How to Play Baloto

The website itself says, "Baloto is an innovative online lotto". The English translation of the name may sound like it has something to do with an election, but it doesn’t. Rather, the modality for this domestic lottery is very similar to other popular state lotteries worldwide.

Essentially, players start by picking five numbers for their lottery ticket from a pool of 1 to 43. And then, they must choose the Super Ballot number from a pool of 1 to 16. Both of these numbers must be selected to create a terminal sale.

During the draw, the participants need to match the numbers on their tickets with the drawn numbers. The more you match, the higher the prize you win. If you match all of the numbers with the Super Ballot, you win the multimillionaire jackpot!

If it ended right here, the lottery would still be a very lucrative offering to the players. But the authority decided to take the stakes one notch higher and introduced Rematch. Or, Revancha in Spanish. If you’re aware of other prominent lotteries like the Mega Millions or Powerball, you may know for a little bit of additional money; you can increase the likelihood of winning a higher price.

The Revancha or Rematch is a similar feature for Baloto. You pay an additional sum to participate in a multi-billion dollar jackpot! Interestingly, you can’t play Revancha without playing Baloto. But Baloto is a standalone offer on the website.

Another great thing about Revancha is that the jackpot prize rolls over to the next one if there are no winning numbers. So, the amount of this jackpot can be as high as you can imagine. On paper, Baloto is marked as an online-only lottery in Colombia. But in reality, you can purchase tickets from physical terminals or retailers as well. There is a massive Baloto tickets distribution channel all over the country.

There is a very nice feature on the website that shows you exactly how to read the ticket. All of the information you give the website or the retailer while purchasing the ticket will be printed. For example, if you only play Baloto, you’ll notice a "B" before your selected numbers. On the contrary, if you pick Revancha, you’ll see a "BR".

Similarly, if you manually pick all six numbers, your ticket will indicate "M" after the Super Baloto number. And if you use the automatic number generator on the website, it’ll say "AU". There are two draws for Baloto each week. On Wednesdays and Saturdays. You need to specify which draw you want to buy the ticket for. Or, you can go for both.

Not let's check the rules of this top casino game for online lottery lovers.

Rules of Baloto

To play Baloto, you need to adhere to a set of rules. It’s mostly the rules that set different lottery programs apart. Otherwise, you can break them down to the same thing. Baloto's rules are pretty easy to comply with, and they’re very clearly written on the website.

Let us highlight the main rules that will be most impactful for you.

Odds to Win the Prizes

One of the most important elements of online lottery, or lottery in general, is the odds of winning. The shorter the odds, the better it is deemed for the players. According to the Baloto website, there are eight ways you can win, and they’re all explained in a very nice video.

If you haven’t guessed already, the longest odds will be for the jackpot prize. So, here are the odds for Baloto’s 8-tier lottery prizes:

• The jackpot prize has odds of 1 in 15,401,568 or 0.00000006%.
• The 2nd prize has odds of 1 in 962,598 or 0.0001%.
• The 3rd prize has odds of 1 in 1,974,560 or 0.00005%.
• The 4th prize has odds of 1 in 123,410 or 0.00008%.
• The 5thprize has odds of 1 in 197,456 or 0.0005%.
• The 6th prize has odds of 1 in 12,341 or 0.0081%.
• The 7th prize has odds of 1 in 14,448 or 0.0069%.
• The 8th prize has odds of 1 in 688 or 0.145%.

If you look closely at all the odds at once, you can see a pattern. The odds started very long, but they dropped quite a lot for the next prize. For the next one again, the odds shot up. The same pattern is visible throughout the prize range.

Do you know why that is? It’s because the prizes where you need to match the Super Baloto number along with the five main numbers, the odds are longer. And for prizes that you can win for only matching the main numbers.

Price of Baloto Tickets

As you may already know, your journey with any lottery program starts with buying the tickets. If you’re not sure where you can buy the tickets, you can take help from the "Baloto Points" tab on the website.

It’s the tab where you can enter your address, and an interactive map will show all the nearest resale points to you. You can walk there and purchase the tickets without any fuss. Now, the price of the ticket. You know that Baloto is the main lottery, but you can pair it up with Rematch or Revancha to increase your jackpot pool.

If you want to go for the Baloto ticket alone, you need to pay 5,700 pesos for a single ticket. And if you pair Revancha, the price increases by 2,100 pesos. The total price you see on your tickets includes 19% VAT.

Baloto Jackpot

So, you might be wondering how much you can win from the Baloto lottery in Colombia. Well, you start with a massive multi-million dollar jackpot pool. It starts at 4,000 million pesos for the Baloto and 1,000 million pesos for the Revancha.

So, technically, it’s a multi-billion dollar jackpot you’re playing for. As these are projected initial values, the final accumulated jackpot will be larger in most cases. Also, this jackpot is not capped by any rollovers. So, it’ll keep getting as long as there are no winners.

You can see the currently accumulated Baloto jackpot on the website itself. If you want to get an idea of what you might win during the draw, you can refer to the website.

Biggest Win Made

The biggest wins are the ones that draw the most attention in the lottery industry. For estimated lotteries like Baloto in Colombia, the anticipations are often intense as you never know how big the payout might get. The biggest win to date for this lottery was back in September 2012. It was a jaw-dropping 117 billion pesos! Even the 2nd biggest winning is equally mind-blowing at 74 billion pesos.

Interestingly, Bogota has been the luckiest city in the country, winning the jackpot a whopping 34 times! Medellin is following Bogota from a distance with 13 wins. Cali and Bucaramanga won 7 times and five times, respectively.

Results of Baloto

The most exciting aspect of any lottery is the draw itself. The draws for Baloto has held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. You may check the results directly on the website but entering your ticket number.

How to Claim Baloto Prizes

Once you’re certain that you’ve won a prize, or perhaps the jackpot, it’s time to claim it as your own. If your winnings are below 1,824,192 pesos, you can directly claim it from the point of sale. And if your winnings go beyond the stated amount, you can claim it from Authorized branches in Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Barranquilla, and Bucaramanga.

Unfortunately, if you’re not a resident of any of the mentioned cities, you need to travel to the location to claim your prize. Don’t forget to carry the winning ticket and all of your indemnification documents for the KYC process.

The branches operate from 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM, on Mondays through Fridays. The payments are made in cashier’s checks by default. However, you can request a bank transfer given that you agree to provide all necessary documentation to the authority.

You should receive the prize within 30 days of your claim.

Taxes of These Prizes

Unlike some of the biggest lotteries globally, there are no annuity options for the lottery winnings in Colombia. All winnings are paid as a one-time lump sum, and taxes are on the winnings. 17%, to be exact. It’s for the top 3 winnings from Baloto in the country. It’s lower than the 20% taxes imposed on the new online casino winnings.

As you go down the prize list, the tax rate automatically drops.

Our Opinion on Baloto

Baloto is the ultimate lottery in Colombia, and it’s extremely popular among the players. The pricing of tickets is very smartly done. For both Baloto and Revancha. The jackpot prizes' uncapped nature and no-rollover characteristics make it a very lucrative option for anyone looking to make money.

If you’re one of the Colombians stuck between Baloto and Revancha, we recommend going for both as it increases the entire prize pool. And at the end of the day, it’s a medium of entertainment, so treat it as such.

Baloto FAQs

Let’s look at the questions you might have regarding the best lottery in Colombia.