Lotto 6/49 Canada: Rules, Price & Odds

How to Play Lotto 6/49 Canada?

Lotteries aren’t that hard to understand. It’s a drawing game based on numbers. You, the player, have to choose a set of numbers to get them to match with the drawn numbers. The more numbers you guess correctly, the bigger the prize you get.

There’s no skill required to play any lottery, let alone Lotto 6/49. All you have to do is pick 6 numbers between 1 and 49. It’s based purely on luck. If you guess all the numbers correctly, you win the jackpot.

This guide will be focused completely on Lotto 6/49, as it is one of the most popular lotteries in Canada. The quick payout is also quite nice.

So your Lotto 6/49 ticket will contain only the 6 numbers you choose. You can choose these 6 numbers yourself or completely randomize your selections. In the guide, we’ll discuss how you would go about doing these ahead.

To purchase your ticket, there are multiple options available to you. You can get the ticket from any authorized retailer. Lotto 6/49 tickets are also available from select online casinos Canada has for lotteries. There’s also the option to get it from the official OLG website.

If you’re visiting the retailer for your ticket, you must fill out a selection sheet. The sheet will contain multiple boards containing the numbers 1-49. You can select 6 numbers from each board. You can pick from multiple boards if you want. Each board signifies one entry into the lottery. 

After selecting your numbers, hand in the selection sheet and collect your ticket; you can visit the retailer again if you want to know the results. You can also withdraw rewards up to a certain limit from the retailer.

When buying your ticket from the website, you’ll need to select the numbers from a form. Once you’ve locked in your choices, you should receive an e-lottery ticket. You can check the results from the website as well.

Other than Lotto 6/49, there are several other lotteries that OLG offers. There is Lotto Max, Daily Keno, and Ontario 49. Each has different odds and different prizes. Be sure to check them out.

Remember that you have the option to select your numbers randomly? It’s called "Quick Play"; if you select it, the system randomly chooses 6 numbers. You can do this online or when you purchase the ticket from the retailer.

Rules of Lotto 6/49 Canada

Without having rules for a lottery, everything would be chaos. Lotto 6/49 has its own rules like any other best online lottery. You need to understand these to play.

So let’s look at the rules of Lotto 6/49 and see what it offers.

Odds to Win the Prizes

Without understanding how odds work, you can’t understand what lotteries are. The higher the odds, the bigger the prize and vice versa.

There’s a bonus number at play in Lotto 6/49. So it also affects the odds as well. Combined with the 6 numbers that you select, you have 7 prizes that you can get from Lotto 6/49, each with its odds.

• All 6 main numbers have odds of 1 in 13,983,816.
• 5 main numbers and 1 additional number have odds of 1 in 2,330,636.
• 5 main numbers only have odds of 1 in 55,492.
• 4 main numbers only odds of 1 in 1,033.
• 3 main numbers only odds of 1 in 56.7.
• 2 main numbers, along with 1 additional number, only have odds of 1 in 81.2.
• 2 main numbers only odds of 1 in 8.3.

Price of Lotto 6/49 Canada Tickets

For entry into the lottery, you need to purchase a ticket. That’s a no-brainer. You already know where to get them. But how much should you be expecting to spend?

Selecting 6 numbers from one board means one entry in the lottery. Each entry is going to cost you C$3. You can go for multiple entries as well. Each new entry costs an additional C$3.

There’s no limit to how many entries you want. Remember that multiple entries don’t boost your chance in any way. You might get lucky, but don’t count on it too much because the odds are the same for all numbers.

You will see another option when you select the numbers. It’s called "Encore". It’s a kind of bonus game you’ll find in other lotteries from the OLG too. It makes you eligible for "Maxmillions", which you can do for an additional C$1.

Lotto 6/49 Canada Jackpot

This is the part you’ve been waiting for. The jackpot! It’s by far the most exciting part of any Lotto guide. So how much is the jackpot for Lotto 6/49? Let’s talk about that.

There is no fixed amount as to how much you can win. Rather the prizes are a percentage of the prize pool. It might seem like a bad thing, not having a fixed amount for the prize. But you can expect some amazing payouts when the prize pool has no limit to the rollover.

The first prize is 79.5% of the prize pool. It’s the highest reward that you can get from this lottery. The other prizes seem pale in comparison. The next three prizes are 6%, 5%, and 9.5% of the prize pool. 

The last three prizes, on the other hand, are fixed. The 5th and 6th prizes are C$10 and C$5, respectively. As for the last prize, you can get another free play. If you win the Maxmillions draw, however, you can win the grand prize of a million dollars!

Biggest Win Made

We’ve already discussed how the prizes are a percentage of the total prize pool. So, what’s the most amount that has been made from the jackpot at Lotto 6/49? This section is dedicated to answering that question.

The largest jackpot from Lotto 6/49 only was a whopping C$64 million. This was won back in 2015 in Ontario. And I was following that we had a C$63.4 million jackpot in April of 2013. These were the largest jackpots in Canadian history until Lotto Max was introduced, with a jackpot of C$70 million.

Results of Lotto 6/49 Canada

Every week you can find out whether you’ve won the lottery or not on two days, once on Wednesday and again on Saturday. Tickets are on sale until the very last minute, so grab yours before they’re sold out!

On these two days, you’ll have the draws at 10:30 pm. It doesn’t take long for the draw to finish, as it’ll only take 10 minutes to wrap everything up. The results are also uploaded to the website after the draw takes place. You can check the results. You can visit their website right here.

How to Claim Lotto 6/49 Canada Prizes

There are different ways you can withdraw your winnings. For example, visit the retailer to collect it from them if you’ve won less than a thousand dollars.

You have to claim your winnings for between C$1000 and C$49,999. You can find the claim form online on the website. Once you make your claim, you can find your winnings delivered via mail. If not, you can also collect it from the OLG Prize Center.

If you’ve managed to earn more than the abovementioned amounts, you need to contact OLG directly. There is a process that will get you started to claim your money. There’s also a list of unclaimed prizes on the website. So check the website in case you’ve missed it.

Taxes of These Prizes

The great thing about lotteries in Canada is that you don’t need to pay any taxes on your winnings. Lottery winnings are not considered capital, so they aren’t subject to income tax, making your life easier.

It’s also the same case for international casino players staying in Canada. If you’re playing from outside Canada, taxes are applicable on lottery winnings there. Unfortunately, you’ll have to pay for it.

Our Opinion on Lotto 6/49 Canada

Lotto 6/49 provides an affordable option to win a lot of money for all Canadians. For just C$3, you have the chance to become a millionaire. But just because the tickets are cheaper, don’t go overboard with them. If you’re lucky, one ticket is all you’ll need.

Lotto 6/49 Canada FAQs

This section tries to cover anything that we might have missed. Please refer to this if you have further queries.