Lotto Max tickets going up in price this weekend as OLG revamps prize breakdown
· Toronto Sun
Big changes are coming to Lotto Max with the first such draw happening April 14, including a maximum jackpot of $90 million and improved odds of winning any prize, except — sadly — for the jackpot.
“We like to keep the game fresh and we hear from our customers that they love big jackpots and they want more prizes,” said OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti on the reasons behind some of the changes.
Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.
“And over the years, Lotto Max has changed because when it launched in 2009 the (maximum) jackpot was $50 million and now it’s at $80 million (and soon to be $90 million) and this one is another change again to keep the game interesting. People look to the states and they see those big jackpot prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions, but there’s also the Canadian sensibility like, ‘Yeah, but it doesn’t have to be that high. Can I just win $1 million?’
“And that’s how Lotto Max was created.”
Ticket price increases to $6 starting Saturday
Starting Saturday, other changes will see the cost of a Lotto Max ticket rise from $5 to $6, but each ticket will now include four lines instead of three and players can choose their own seven numbers from one to 52 rather than one to 50.
“When you go and buy a Lotto Max today for the draw, you give $5 and you get three lines,” said Bitonti. “So you can choose the first line. You can say whatever numbers you want. And the other two are generated by the computer. Or you can have the computer generate all three of them.
“The new tickets start on April 11 (Saturday) with the first draw on April 14, so now you will be getting four lines of numbers for $6. So the price increase is (because) we’re giving you more value, we’re giving your more options, more prizes and this is the first increase in price since the launch in 2009.”
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
Improved odds on winning ‘any prize’
The even bigger news is that it means improved overall odds of winning any prize, although slightly worse odds of winning the jackpot.
“It’s going from one-in-seven to one-in-5.8 to win any prize,” said Bitonti. “Now, if you’re looking at just the odds for the jackpot, that does increase slightly from one-in-33,294,800 to one-in-33,446,140 (per play). The odds aren’t as great. It’s a result of the changes being made to the matrix, which is the one to 52 (numbers you can choose). We call that the matrix.
“And also that we’re adding the extra (fourth) line in there as well.”
There will also be multiple $100,000 prizes offered for every draw in addition to the current MaxMillion prizes of $1 million, the numbers of which are decided based on sales.
“At (a) $10-million (jackpot), there will be ten $100,000 prizes,” said Bitonti. “At $20 million, it will be twenty $100,000 prizes. If it gets to a $90-million jackpot, we will have ninety $100,000 prizes. There’s no guarantee that anyone will win those prizes every draw (if the numbers aren’t drawn). That’s all in addition to the MaxMillion prizes, which kick in at $50 million.”