Record $70 Million Canada Lotto Max Jackpot on Offer on January 3rd
The biggest ever jackpot in Canada’s Lotto Max will be on offer in the draw on January 3rd. The prize will be worth CA$70 million and comes seven months after changes were made to the game to allow for bigger jackpots just like this one.
No one has won the Lotto Max jackpot since November 26th 2019 so the prize money has carried over for 11 draws to reach its record-breaking total. It is the first time that the new jackpot cap of $70 million has been reached since the rules were updated in May 2019.
The jackpot cap was originally set at $50 million, before it was increased to $60 million in July 2015 and then again to $70 million last year. The jackpot reached a new record of $65 million on June 11th and then again in the draw on October 4th and on both occasions the entire amount was won by one lucky ticket holder.
The jackpot hit $65 million again on New Year’s Eve but that time there were no winners so the prize money was carried over to reach its new record amount. There will also be 10 MaxMillions prizes of $1 million on offer in Friday’s draw, taking the total prize fund to $80 million.
What Is Lotto Max?
Lotto Max is one of Canada’s most popular draw games and offers some of the country’s biggest jackpots. Players choose seven numbers from 1 to 50 and then receive two additional lines of seven randomly-generated numbers.
They must match all seven numbers on one line to win the jackpot, which starts at $10 million and, as mentioned, can increase to a maximum of $70 million. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 33,294,800 and the odds of winning any prize - including a free ticket for a future draw - are 1 in 7.
Once the jackpot hits $50 million an extra game called MaxMillions kicks in. With MaxMillions, a number of additional draws take place after the main Lotto Max draw and there is a $1 million prize on offer in each one. Exactly how many MaxMillions draws take place depends on how big the jackpot is.
In Friday’s draw there will be 10 MaxMillions draws, with a $1 million prize on offer in each one. Players use the same numbers they played in the Lotto Max draw for MaxMillions and must match all seven to win one of the million-dollar prizes. If more than one player wins in the same MaxMillions draw the prize money is shared equally between them - there are no other prizes.
The draw is scheduled to take place at 10.30pm Eastern Time and the winning numbers - including the MaxMillions numbers - will be added to the Lotto Max Numbers page as soon as they have been confirmed