Largest Lotto Max jackpot in Canadian history up for grabs
Prize cap jacked from $50M to $60M
Thanks to some recent changes to the Lotto Max game rules, Friday's draw will be a doozy.
"We used to cap the jackpot at $50 million and we changed the rules so that could it continue to grow up to [$60 million]. So, $60-million is the new cap and this is the first time we've got there," said Andrea Marantz, spokesperson with the Western Canada Lottery Corporation (WCLC).
- $50M Lotto Max win can buy anything except anonymity
- $1M lotto winners taking long-term maternity leave thanks to winnings
While the Friday prize will be the largest in the history of Lotto Max, it's not the biggest in Canadian history.
That record is held by the April 13, 2013 Lotto 6-49 draw, which has no prize cap. The $63.4-million jackpot was shared among four winning tickets, each worth $15.9-million.
"People have different triggers when they decide they're going to lay down their five dollars," said Marantz.
"What we do find — when it gets up to these really big numbers is that new groups form and people are throwing in their money together and they're buying tickets together."
Marantz says the seven winning numbers are drawn at random from a ball machine — and the entire process is taken very seriously.
"Balls are kept under lock and key," she said. "So the weighing of the balls — it's this little ritual and there are independent audit companies there," said Marantz.
The odds of one ticket winning the $60-million jackpot on Friday are one in 28.6 million. But that hasn't deterred Marantz from trying.
"I've got one. And that's the whole thing — one ticket, right? That's all it takes to win."