$93 million lotto fever

Photo: Contributed - bclc.com

While Canadian lotto prizes do not reach the billion-dollar mark like some south of the border, Canadians do have a chance to win some of the $93 million worth of prizes in this week's Lotto Max draw.

According to the B.C. Lottery Corporation, Lotto Max fever is heating up with a $60 million jackpot available on Friday’s draw, and an additional chance to win 33 Maxmillion prizes of $1 million each.

“It’s anticipated that 40 per cent of all Lotto Max sales will take place Friday afternoon with the biggest peaks during the lunch hour and afternoon, when lottery retailers in B.C. are expected to process up to 4,500 transactions per minute,” says the BCLC.

Lotto Max draws are held every Friday night. A $5 ticket gets you three chances to win. To win the $60 million you must match seven out of seven numbers.

While the $60 million may seem like pennies in comparison to the Powerball $1.6 billion jackpot, the odds are better this side of the border.

Anyone with a Powerball ticket for the record-high American prize had a one in more than 292 million chance to win.

To put that in perspective, someone who purchases 50 tickets weekly would win the jackpot, on average, once every 112,000 years. 

Whereas, one's odds of winning the Lotto Max jackpot or Maxmillion prize, while still terrible, are one in 28,633,528 per play.

Despite the odds, 98 Maxmillions have been won in B.C. since September 2009 along with a few jackpots as well.

Lotto Max customers in B.C. have until 7:30 p.m. on Friday evenings to purchase a ticket for that night’s draw.