What Are Your Chances Of Winning the Game?

If you were to place a wager on a sporting event – say a tennis match – at the best betting websites, on the surface, your chances of winning that bet are fairly straightforward.

After all, there are just two players in a tennis match, or two on each side if it’s a doubles match, so basically, it’s a 50-50 proposition. Of course, some players are better than others, so that’s going to sway those 50-50 odds somewhat to the side of the more dominant performer. But upsets do happen, so there’s always a chance that the underdog will come through with a surprise win.

When playing the lottery, the odds aren’t as straightforward. For instance, in Canada, the chances of winning either of the country’s two major lottery prizes are astronomical.  The Lotto Max national jackpot, which requires you to hit seven correct numbers, is one in 33.2 million, while Lotto 6/49, in which you need to match six numbers, has odds of one in 13.9 million for its classic jackpot.

In an interview with Canada’s Global News, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation spokesperson Tony Bitonti acknowledged that the likelihood of becoming a lottery grand prize winner probably ranks right up there with your chances of being struck by lightning.

“When you buy one of those tickets, you’re not just competing against folks in Ontario, you’re competing against folks from coast to coast to coast, all across Canada,” Bitonti said. “They are astronomical odds for any game.”

Of course, there are also numerous lesser prizes up for grabs with both lotteries. Taking all of those options into consideration, it increases the chances of winning a prize in the Lotto Max to one in seven. You’ll have one in 6.6 chance of coming away with a prize from the Lotto 6/49 when encompassing all possibilities for a win. These options include the chance of winning a free ticket, which gives you nothing other than another shot at the big prize money.

Lottery Win Can Be Life Changing

In 2023, just five people won the Lotto Max jackpot and another 19 won the MaxMillions prize of $1 million. Fourteen people won the Lotto 6/49 jackpot, three won the multi-million gold ball prize and nearly 150 Lotto 6/49 players won prizes of $1 million each.

That’s not many in a country populated by 39.06 million people.

So why play the lottery, when your chances of cashing a winning ticket on a sports bet are remarkably more likely to happen? Well, let’s say you wager $10 on Novak Djokovic to defeat Jannik Sinner in a men’s singles tennis match. For the sake of argument, suppose the odds on Djokovic to win are 2:1 (in reality, they’d probably be much lower). At 2:1 odds, your $10 bet will pay $20 if Djokovic wins. You’ll also get your stake back, so in total, you’ll walk away with $30.

That won’t even get you a tank of gas for your car.

By contrast, a grand prize lottery win will number into the millions of dollars. It’s a life-changing win. And it’s that chance, even as a massive longshot, that causes people to dream big. It explains why Canadians purchased $4.3 billion of lottery tickets in 2023.

Hope, as the saying goes, springs eternal.

“It is a chance to dream and that’s what people are really doing,” Bitonti explained.

And it’s not like money isn’t being won by Canadian lottery players.

“It’s incredible the amount of prizes that we do give out,” Bitonti said. “Last year we gave out over $2.5 billion — with a ‘b’ — in prizes. That’s an incredible amount.”

Lotteries Ramp Up Opportunity To Win

Recognizing that the dream they are selling is massively unlikely to ever come true for the vast majority of lottery players, the OLG has been adding additional prize opportunities to beef up the chance of winning something.

From March to May of 2024, every $5 purchase of Lotto Max at participating OLG retail locations included a Dream Draws ticket with a chance to win up to $100,000. Early Bird prizes were also available in March and April with this in-store promotion.

During the same period, every $5 purchase of Lotto Max on OLG.ca included an entry into the separate Dream Draws contest for a chance to win a prize of $100,000.

“Our customers asked for more prizing opportunities, and we responded by creating additional chances to win,” Nancy Kennedy, OLG’s Chief Lottery and Customer Officer, said in a statement.

Big Money Left On Table

Considering how difficult it is to win big on the lottery, it’s utterly astonishing to think that a $70 million grand prize went unclaimed in Canada in 2022-23.

The winning ticket was sold June 28, 2022 and the win was via Lotto Max. When the one-year window to claim this jackpot expired at 10:30 p.m. ET on June 28, 2023, the prize was registered as unclaimed.

“It does happen,” Bitonti said. “It doesn’t happen very often – especially for the $70 million prize but for smaller prizes it does.”

OLG officials noted that the winning ticket was never checked at a self-serve ticket checker or via the OLG app. The OLG spent months making national appeals through their own sites and via the mainstream media, seeking to unearth the identity of the winning ticket holder.

“Due to the high volume of lost ticket claims, OLG’s dedicated team of lottery investigators took the time necessary to thoroughly review each and every potential claim. Now that this process is complete, we can report that none of those claims were successful,” the OLG said in a statement.

“Thus, the $70 million prize is officially unclaimed.”

The $70 million prize money was returned to the prize pool for future bonus games or promotions of national lottery games such as Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49 and Daily Grand.