Lotto Database Blog

Lotteries are fun to play. Especially if you win occassionally. Here are some interesting and fun facts about lotteries.

What If Only Person Is Playing the Lottery

What happens if you are the only person playing the lotteries?

Will it increase your chances of winning?

Well, it depends on the lottery.

If you play the Canadian lottery, Lotto 649, there is a guaranteed winner every draw. One random player wins the $1,000,000 dollar guaranteed-winner prize, or the gold ball prize of starting $10,000,000. If you happen to be the only person playing, you would walk away with well over $104 Million a year (assuming your were the only player for an entire year). But chances are, you are not the only one playing this game.

Other lotteries use a percentage of the income to generate the winnings. If you are the only player, then the jackpot will only increase by small amounts. Could you imagine a jackpot of 54 cents?

However, most lotteries it doesn't matter if you are the only player, or there are multiple players, the odds of winning are the same, which is slim. Check out the various Canadian or American lotteries on our site to see those chances.

Difference between American and Canadian Lotteries

There are some major differences between American and Canadian lotteries. Check out our difference between American and Canadian Lotteries article.

Unusual Sequence of Numbers

South Africa has it own lottery equivalent to the PowerBall. On December 1, 2020, a draw occurred which was so unique that it warranted an investigation. The numbers which were drawn were 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and a Powerball of 10.

5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10

Amazing!

You can view this draw (draw number 1151) at Ithuba Lottery YouTube channel

For those who are interested, there were 20 Winners of the R114 Million Jackpot. Also, the order the computer generated balls fell were 8, 5, 9, 7, 6 and Bonus 10

The African Powerball game is played with the main balls ranging from 1 to 50, with the Powerball being 1 to 20

Lotteries are games of chances. What are the chances of that happening?

Well, the odds would be the same as for any sequence, and that is 1 in 105,938,000

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One of the major national lotteries in Canada is Lotto MAX.

This lottery went through a bit of an overhaul in May, 2019 where they introduced an additional ball (number 50).

This changed the odds of winning.

As seen on our LottoMAX details page, the new odds of winning per $5.00 play is 1 in 33,294,800.

But what are actual odds of the lottery choosing your numbers?

There is a bit of math to figure out these odds. As described on our Odds of Winning the Lottery page, you can figure out the odds with this equation:

(50 x 49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45 x 44) / (7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1).

So, 503,417,376,000 / 5040

This results in 99,884,400

So the odds of your numbers being chosen are 1 in 99,884,400.

Different Odds?

But wait one second. The advertised odds are 1 in 33,294,800? What gives?

Technically, the advertised odds are correct. When you play Lotto Max, you are usually buying a $5.00 ticket. This gives you 3 selections of numbers.

So you have 3 chances to win for each $5 play, one for each line selection.

Doing the math again...

99,884,400 / 3 = 33,294,800.

So the math is correct...the odds are different depending on what you are truly looking for.

Regional Lottery Websites Odds

Canada has 5 regional websites to inform players about their lotteries.

These are:

1. British Columbia Lottery Corporation
2. Western Canada Lottery Corporation
3. Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation
4. Loto-Quebec
5. Atlantic Lottery Corporation

Oddly, none of these official sites mention the true odds of winning Lotto MAX for one selection line.

Summary

The true odds of winning with your line selection are in 1 in 99,884,400. Math doesn't lie. To choose 7 numbers from the pool of 50 balls, the odds are definitely 1 in 99,884,400.

However, the odds of your ticket winning are 1 in 33,294,800, because each $5 ticket has 3 chances of winning.

Different odds, depending on how the question is worded.

If you have any thoughts or questions, please contact us with your opinions.

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The major national lotteries of the US and Canada are played by millions of wanna-be millionaires weekly. Both countries present millions of dollars to winners.

However, the rules and laws surrounding these lotteries of these two countries are not quite the same.

We have compiled a comprehensive list of the differences between Canadian and American lotteries.

Taxes

One of the biggest differences between Canadian and American lotteries is taxes.

Lottery winnings in Canada are tax exempt.

That means, if you win one million dollars in a Canadian lottery, you are given a cheque for one million dollars.

If you deposit the cheque into a bank, it is still tax exempt. However, any interest you start to accumulate on your winnings will be taxed.

American lottery winners need to pay taxes on their winnings.

25% for federal tax, and state taxes (anywhere between 0 and 13.9%).

So for an American who wins $1,000,000 in New York, the amount they receive after taxes could be as low as $662,000 ($250,000 Federal taxes, $88,000 State taxes).

If you happen to be a non-resident of the States, then instead of 25% federal tax, it would be 30% federal tax and applicable State taxes.

Jackpot and Payout Options

In Canada, the advertised jackpot is what you win.

If you happen to win $70 Million in the Lotto MAX draw, you receive a tax-free cheque for $70 Million dollars.

In the US, the advertised jackpot is the payout if you choose the annuity option.

The winner has a choice of a lump sum payout, or a annuity payout over 29 years (for Powerball). An example of the difference is with a $228 Million dollar winner. As a lump sum payout, the winner would have received $134 Million. The annuity option gives the winner $228,467,735 paid out over 30 annuity payments.

Megamillions has a similar annuity option except it goes over 26 annual payments.

The above example for the Powerball win did not factor in taxes. With taxes, the advertised $228 Million could come in at $151 Million, and the lump sum would be $88,000,000 after taxes.

Number of Players

The United States has a higher population than Canada. As such, there are more people playing the lotteries in the United States as opposed to Canada.

The population of the United States is 327 million. Canada is 37 million.

Some statistics show that approximately 18% of adults play lotteries once a week or more. 58% buy tickets at least once a year. (see sources for stats).

A large percent of people buy tickets only when the jackpot is significant. Significant is subjective based on the lottery.

Jackpots grow significantly larger in the US because the odds of winning are significantly lower.

Time to Claim

Most Canadian lotteries can claim their prizes within 1 year of purchasing their ticket.

Many American lotteries, you have 180 days to claim your prize.

Depending on the payout option chosen by the winner(s), you may need to claim your prize in as little as 60 days.

Cross Border Playing

When the national lotteries in the US and Canada hit larger than normal jackpots, there is a increase in lottery sales. Many of these sales are from cross border shoppers who happen to notice the draws, or specifically cross the border in order to buy tickets.

Players continue to buy tickets when they are on holidays or business trips. Who wouldn't want to be that individual who makes the news for winning a cross-border jackpot. It has never been done before.

At some retailers close to the border, between 60 to 95 percent of the buyers came from across the border. In this particular case, it was with the Powerball $1.5 Billion draw on January 13, 2016.

There are specific laws pertaining to lottery tickets and crossing the borders. It is a controversial topic, with cases of tickets being seized at the border. More can be viewed in this CTV article.

American vs Canadian Dollar

The American dollar and the Canadian dollar are rarely equivalent to one another. Over the past 10 years, the American dollar has always been stronger. At the time of writing this article, one US dollar equals 1.33 Canadian dollars. This difference effects everything from the price of a lottery ticket to the total amount of jackpot winnings, comparing the dollar values.

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