Canadians will soon be paying more for Lotto Max tickets
The price of just about everything seems to be going up these days, and now that includes Lotto Max lottery tickets.
The next time you want to try your luck by buying a Lotto Max ticket, make sure to budget a little more, as ticket prices are increasing in April. These changes were announced in October and will apply nationwide, with the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) stating that “Canada’s most popular lottery games, Lotto Max, will undergo an exciting transformation.”
Here’s what Canadian lottery players should know.
How much more will you have to pay?
Loto-Quebec
The standard $5 ticket will now cost you $6 per play. In an email to Daily Hive, Tony Bitonti, director of media relations at OLG, stated that the new ticket price will go into effect on Friday, April 10, when ticket sales resume after the “draw break.”
“This is the time when ticket sales are closed for the Friday draw, usually at about 10:30 p.m. E.T. Ticket sales start up again, between 11 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.,” he explained. “So ticket sales for the new Lotto Max will technically start on Friday, April 10 (after the draw break) if the retailer is open, but most sales will begin on Saturday, April 11.”
What do you get with the “new Lotto Max”?
@atlanticlottery/Instagram
Currently, when you buy a $5 ticket, you get the standard three selections of seven numbers from one to 50. Once these changes are implemented, each $6 ticket will now come with four selections of seven numbers from one to 52. Because of these changes, the odds of winning will improve from approximately 1-in-7.0 to approximately 1-in-5.8.
According to OLG, the price change will go towards a bigger jackpot and additional prizes — the Lotto Max jackpot will increase to a record-breaking $90 million, up from the current $80-million limit. The first day of the draw with the new jackpot cap is on Tuesday, April 14.
Unclaimed Free Plays won on or before the April 10 Lotto Max draw are valid for the April 14 and subsequent draws.
In addition to Maxmillions prizes worth $1 million, the new Lotto Max will also include an additional $100,000 in every draw, “with more added as the jackpot grows.”
“For example, when the jackpot is $10 million, 10 additional prizes of $100,000 will be drawn,” explained Bitonti. “At $20 million, there will be 20 additional $100,000 prizes, and so on, up to 90 additional $100,000 prizes when the jackpot hits $90 million.”
It’s the first time the price has increased since the game first launched in 2009.
“Players who love Lotto Max have consistently said they prefer high-dollar jackpots and more additional prizes, so these changes are another way we’re responding to what players want,” Bitonti stated.
What are your thoughts on the Lotto Max price increase? Let us know in the comments or email us at trending@dailyhive.com.