Lotto Max

Lotto Max Canada is the game that was introduced in to replace the Canadian Super Lotto 7. Tickets first went on sale on September 19th, 2009 with the first draw taking place just six days later on September 25th, 2009. Draws for the Lotto Max take place every Friday and players have to pick seven numbers from 49. To win the jackpot all seven drawn numbers have to be matched and the minimum jackpot for Lotto Max Canada is CAD $10 million.

The Lotto Max Canada game is administered by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation that works with the five regional lottery corporations; Atlantic Canada, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Western Canada. These are owned by the ten provinces and three territories of Canada.

Lotto Max Jackpot and Maxmillions

Jackpots for the Lotto Max Canada can rollover but the jackpot is capped at CAD $50 million. When the jackpot reaches this level then Maxmillions comes into play. The number of Maxmillions draws that take place each week is dependent on the extra funds in the prize pool over and above the jackpot of $50 million. An example of this comes from November 2011. The jackpot cap of CAD $50 million was reached for the draw of 11th November and the prize pool was exceed by CAD $2 million meaning two Maxmillions draws took place. There were no Lotto Max winners for this draw and neither of the Maxmillions draws produced winners either. This meant that the CAD $50 million remained as the Lotto Max jackpot and then CAD $2 million was carried forward to the draw of 18th November 2011.

At this point the jackpot was won but there were 17 Maxmillions draws of which six found winners; one of which saw two tickets share the CAD $1 million jackpot. This meant that CAD $11 million remained in the prize pool but as the Maxmillions draws stop when a Lotto Max winner is found, the remaining CAD $11 million was added to the prize pool for the Lotto Max jackpot for the draw on 25th November 2011 making it CAD $21 million rather than the minimum of CAD $10 million.

Play Lotto Max Canada

Lotto Max Canada play varies to that in many other world lotteries in that the price you pay per ticket is for three lottery lines rather than the usual one. However players can only pick seven balls from 49 for the first line as the other two lines of numbers and randomly generated. When a draw takes place seven main balls are drawn and a bonus ball. The bonus ball is only used for two of the seven prize tiers available in the Lotto Max Canada as per the odds table below which shows the odds, fixed prizes or percentage of the prize pool for each prize tier:

Odds and Prizes for Lotto Max Canada

Match	Prize Pool	Odds
7 main balls	Jackpot (87% of prize pool)	1 : 28,633,528
6 main balls and the bonus	4% of prize pool	1 : 4,090,504
6 main balls	4% of prize pool	1 : 99,768
5 main balls	5% of prize pool	1 : 1,584
4 main balls	CAD $20	1 : 71.3
3 main balls and the bonus	CAD $20	1 : 76.7
3 main balls	Free Play	1 : 8.1

Your overall odds of winning any prize in the Lotto Max Canada game is 1: 6.6.

Lotto Max Canada Encore

For an additional fee players can participate in an extra game called Encore. This game offers 22 ways to win and the minimum prize is CAD $2 with a top prize of CAD $1 million. However the Encore game is only available to players in Ontario.

The Encore number on your ticket is chosen at random when you pay the additional fee to play and then you have a number of ways in which you can win:

Right to Left

Seven numbers matched at the CAD $1 million prize and the last digit matched for a CAD $2 prize and five different prize tiers in between.

Left to Right

Match the first six numbers for a CAD $10,000 prize and the first two digits for a CAF $5 prize with three other prize tiers in between.

Combination wins

Match (in exact order only)	Prize	Odds
First five numbers and last number	CAD $502	1 : 1,111,111
First four numbers and last two numbers	CAD $55	1 : 1,111,111
First four numbers and last number	CAD $52	1 : 123,457
First three numbers and last three numbers	CAD $20	1 : 1.111.111
First three numbers and last two numbers	CAD $15	1 : 123,457
First three numbers and last number	CAD $12	1 : 12,346
First two numbers and last four numbers	CAD $105	1 : 1,111,111
First two numbers and last three numbers	CAD $15	1 : 123,457
First two numbers and last two numbers	CAD $10	1 : 12,346
First two numbers and last number	CAD $7	1 : 1,235