Online Lotto in Canada
No matter where you live in Canada, the lottery is available. Whether you play scratch tickets, Lotto 6/49, Lotto Super 7, or any of the games run exclusively by your provincial lottery corporation, everyone of age can spend a dollar or more in hopes of beating the astronomical odds.
Play Online at The Lotter
The Lotter lets you play multiple local and international lottos including Lotto 649, Ontario 49, U.S. – Powerball and many more from the convenience of your home.
A few years ago, lottery authorities were worried that the so-called Millennials weren’t buying tickets and that much-needed revenues will continue to fall. But that’s not the case. In 2018, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) saw a quarter on quarter increases of 15.1% while British Columbia’s BCLC saw a first-quarter sales increase of 2.9% over the previous year’s Q1 sales.
If you want to buy tickets online from one of the Crown Corporations’ lottery providers you’ll have to be located in the same province or association member’s territory the drawing is held in. Alternately you could travel in-country or ask a relative in another jurisdiction to buy tickets for you. The lottery corps are working hard to keep their sales up by involving customers in the process and offering new and exciting games. Some players are even pocketing money without having to buy a single ticket.
But what about U.S. Powerball, Euro Millions, or the huge Spanish lotteries like El Gordo? How can Canadians buy tickets for these lotteries?
Online Lottery Sales
We know of a legitimate way for people in every province and territory to buy tickets for lotteries with the biggest jackpots in the world – online lottery sales!
There are a few different models online retailers use, and we’ll explore them all. The one thing they all have in common is that you can play from home, win, and be paid without ever needing to cross a border in person!
Provincial Lotteries
Provincial lottery providers sell tickets online. Certain rules require that you be in-province to buy tickets. This simply means that you can’t buy BCLC lotto tickets from the BLCL when you are in Quebec and vice-versa. This can be a great way to play if you don’t feel like going out and it’s close to ticket sales cut-off time.
When the big pots get up to $25 million and more, there’s no sense in not participating – because you can’t win if you don’t play. However, other lotteries around the world offer much bigger prizes and some of the odds are simply better. For those jackpots, we have to look offshore.
Lottery Messenger Services
When you buy tickets through a lottery messenger service, you are basically paying an agent in the lottery’s country of origin to pick up tickets for you. When you win a jackpot, you will need to collect the prize yourself.
Each service works a little bit different but in one case you simply choose the number of lines you want, quick-pick or play your own numbers, pay for the ticket(s) and an agent will go out and buy them on their regular route.
Then they scan the tickets and upload them to your online account. You can set alerts for any level of win and be notified via email or SMS, and then request the winning ticket, which will be mailed to you by insured mail.
This is the model a man in Iraq used a few years ago to buy an Oregon lottery ticket worth US$6,400,000 with the help of TheLotter.com, the world’s biggest and most trusted messenger service. He chose to take the “[Megabucks] jackpot in 25 annual installments of $256,000 minus taxes”, and collects his annual payment directly from the lottery.
The company makes its money by marking up the price of tickets, so a $5 ticket may cost $7, for example, but you get the entire jackpot if you have the only winning numbers. Otherwise, just like at home, if someone else also wins, you share the prize.
Insurance Model
In this scenario, the online lottery site will offer virtual play slips. An underwriting company basically bets against anyone winning by backing up the ticket numbers with cash from an insurance pool. Lloyds of London may back up the operator or a well-funded private equity firm like RISQ Capital.
You simply choose your game online and buy a virtual betting ticket. When the numbers are announced, the winnings are paid right into your online account with the operator and you can withdraw your winnings from there.
Some of these operators make their money by withholding whatever amount the lottery originator would have withheld in taxes. Others charge a nominal fee for the service.
Bookmaker Model
These sites operate much like those using the insurance model does, except the process is backed up by a bookmaker rather than an insurance pool. The bookie is usually licensed in Curacao. Highly respected operators like Cherry AB use a Caribbean bookmaker to handle their online lotto bets.
After studying the probabilities of any given lottery draw, the bookmaker sets the odds and then allows the online retailer to sell chances. When you have a winning number, the bookie settles the bet with your game provider and then the retailer pays you.
Online Lotto Options in Canada
1. Lotto 6/49
Probably the most famous lottery in Canada is Lotto 6/49. This lottery has paid the highest jackpot in Canada — CAD$63.4 million. The ticket price starts from CAD$3, and for one of those, you can choose two groups of numbers from 1 to 49.
These two sets of six numbers have different roles. One set is eligible for the main jackpot drawing, and you are required to choose six different numbers. The other set is allowing you to choose ten numbers, and those numbers will be included in CAD$1 million Guaranteed Prize Draw.
The minimum investment is CAD$5, which is the ticket worth. The maximum jackpot is not set in advance, which means that the jackpot will increase after every draw until it’s won. You have a chance to win an enormous amount of money twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday.
2. Lotto Max
When you search for lotto options in Canada, you must come across Lotto Max. It jumped in as a replacement for Lotto Super 7 in 2009. The system remained similar with a few slight changes. Namely, with Lotto Max’s predecessor, players could choose three sets of seven numbers out of 49, plus one additional bonus number. Now, you can select the desired combination out of 50 numbers.
The jackpot you can win ranges between CAD$10 million and CAD$70 million. The minimum you need to invest is CAD$5, and then follow the drawings on Tuesdays and Fridays, but that’s not all. Lotto Max also offers another drawing called the MaxMillions that is held once the main jackpot comes to CAD$50 million. All three sets of numbers you chose are included in the MaxMillions drawing.
3. Lotto Daily Grand
Lotto Daily Grand is undoubtedly offering the most unbelievable prize ever. Once you purchase a ticket, you enter the competition for CAD$1,000 daily for the rest of your life! Even the consolation prize is not that bad, as it gives you CAD$25,000 a year for life.
The draws for Lotto Daily Grand are happening on Monday and Thursday, and the ticket price is CAD$3. Again, you choose two different sets of numbers. Five of them will be the numbers from 1 to 49, and you also need to choose a grand number from a range of 1 to 7. If you are indecisive, there is a Quick-Pick option that chooses numbers for you.
4. Daily Grand BC/49
While the previously mentioned lottos can be played anywhere across Canada, this particular one is meant only for the residents of British Columbia. Therefore, if you live there, you have a chance of winning a CAD$2 million jackpot, and an extra prize of CAD$500,000. To enroll in the lotto, you should select six numbers out of 49. A single selection is CAD$1, and you can create ten of those per ticket.
If you choose a double play option, you can also take part in Lotto 6/49. This requires an additional CAD$4, and you can pay for up to 28 consecutive draws using the Advance Buy option. The only thing left is to pay attention to drawings on Wednesday and Saturday.
5. Lotto Extra
Lotto Extra is not a separate game, and it comes as an additional leg of Daily Grand BC/49. Consequently, the outcome of Lotto Extra and all its options is dependent on the lotto it is tied to. Apart from Daily Grand BC/49, it can also be a part of Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max. The extra numbers will be assigned by a computer, and for the ticket itself, you will have to pay CAD$1 and be able to swipe the extra code one time only.
6. Lottario Lotto
The game called Lottario is only valid in Ontario. For CAD$1, you can choose two sets of six digits from 1 to 45, each of which is valid for two drawings — the Main Draw and Early Bird Draw.
The tickets for the lottery can be bought until 10:30 PM on Saturday, as the drawing should occur some moments after that time. If you wish to participate in the Early Bird Draw, you must buy the lucky ticket on or before 11:59 PM on Friday. The jackpot is a roll-over type that starts at CAD$250,000, while the Early Bird prize is CAD$50,000.
7. Lotto Encore
Lotto Encore works according to the same principle as Lotto Extra — it is not treated as a separate game but works as an add-on for the main lotto games. Double your chances to win with Lotto Encore, as CAD$1 can bring you CAD$1 million. This option will be available only if you ask the retailer to add the Encore to the game you have already been playing.
8. Poker Lotto
If you like both poker and lotto, this is the perfect blend for you. You can either win at the moment you are buying your ticket, or participate in the nightly draw. Your display will serve as a poker table, and the hand will consist of five cards randomly chosen out of 52. To win, you need to match at least two cards.
The CAD$2 ticket will allow you to cash out CAD$5,000 if you have a winning hand or even a CAD$10,000 jackpot.
9. Powerball Canada
Powerball is a well-known lottery in the US, but Canadian players can enjoy it as well. Although it is more expensive than other Canadian lotteries, it also offers more in return. The maximum jackpot has so far reached CAD$1.58 billion.
You need to choose five white balls from 1 to 69, and one red ball ranging between 1 and 26. Then grab a beer and organize a pyjama party on Wednesday and Saturday while you wait for your numbers to come out. But even if you don’t win a jackpot, do not give up just yet. In case you guess five white balls, you can claim a CAD$1 million prize.
Types of Lottery Games Available
Between half the dozen or more online lottery purveyors serving Canada, you can play virtually any lottery in the world worth playing. This also means that if you are in BC and the games
in Alberta, Quebec, or the Atlantic regions have bigger jackpots than BCLC does, you can play almost any Canadian Lottery from home too.
Just looking at today’s jackpot board we see Eurojackpot at €63m, US Powerball topping $150m, and Mega Millions at $192m. The biggest jackpot we see in a Canadian lottery is Lotto Max at $35m. The jackpot for that game starts at $10m and is available all over the country. Not long ago we saw that two friends won $26m and begin a travel adventure with their winnings!
We’d wait until it hits $50m so the $1,000,000 MaxMillion chances are added, but that’s a personal preference based on the odds. The bigger the prize gets, the more people buy tickets, the greater the chance you have to share the top prize or the million dollar prize. The odds on the second chance are still 28,633,528:1, but the chances are free with your original $5 ticket when the jackpot goes over $50m. Also, you could still win or share in the top prize. While at its top pay point, Lotto Max changed to a twice per week draw, so by all means, play when it’s big!
Syndicate Play
Syndicated play is a lot like your home or office lottery pool. The difference is that the syndicate can be much larger and buy a wide variety of different tickets. While your odds of winning are dramatically increased by joining a syndicate, the amount you win will be divided equally among your pool-mates.
Some people tend to think that your overall chances of winning more money are better when playing in a syndicate. This may be true if you roll your money back in after a win. Of course, you can’t change the numbers, but syndicate play can create more potential strategies.
How does that work?
When you increase your odds and play a variety of games, you are more likely to win more small and medium prizes as well. If you buy a single ticket you have fewer chances to reinvest smaller winnings.
We would imagine that most people realize that winning a jackpot is a once in a lifetime opportunity and they don’t spend their winnings on lottery tickets!
However, if you win $100 now and then and then reinvest/re-risk the funds, you have a better chance to win more than if you spent the winnings on something else. You also have a better chance of winning or sharing in a jackpot because you have simply purchased more tickets.
Conclusions on Internet Lotteries in Canada
While we’re all familiar with Canadian lotteries, it’s also nice to know that we can participate in the world record jackpot draws wherever and whenever they are being held. Lottery odds are atrocious compared to the odds of winning online casino games, but very few games online can deliver millions, hundreds of millions, or maybe even a billion dollars.
One thing is certain, you can’t win if you don’t play. Each of the online purveyors makes their money some way – either by charging more for the tickets than they cost in-person, by deducting phantom ‘taxes’, or another way. However, most days of the year, it’s the only way to play for hundreds of millions of dollars.
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