Lotto Max adds highest single jackpot ever in Canada
Lottery history is being made today that will give Canadians a better chance of coming home a millionaire. Lotto Max has launched a new Tuesday draw, in addition to the regular Friday event.
“Tuesday’s a day that you can dream big,” Dita Kuhtey, media relations manager with OLG told Yahoo Canada.
The jackpot on this new draw day has the potential to reach $70 million, making it the highest single jackpot ever in Canada.
“People can dream bigger with Lotto Max,” Kuhtey said. “It’s not just about, oh I can pay off my mortgage and buy my own car, it’s I can buy my own island, I can support all the charitable causes I want to, I can take a dream vacation around the world in a yacht.”
The jackpot for this first Tuesday draw is up to $17 million at this point but the current record to date is $64 million, which was hit in 2015 through Lotto 649.
“It’s really exciting for us, we love celebrating with our winners,” Kuhtey said. “We know that all of our winners talk about the time when they find out they have a winning ticket, that ‘winner, Gagnon’ sound bite.”
To highlight the inaugural draw, Lotto Max partnered with chef Matt Basile from Fidel Gastro to celebrate with Lotto Max-themed “Taco Tuesday” food trucks in Toronto and Ottawa. Every adult at the event also received a $5 gift card to try their luck in the first Tuesday Lotto Max draw.
“It’s a pretty historic day for Lotto Max and I’m so proud they asked me to be a part of it,” Chef Basile said as he handed out his “Ribeye Grill-ionaire” and “ToMAXtillo Cauliflower” tacos in Toronto.
OLG has also added two new prize categories to Lotto Max, increasing the number of prize categories from seven to nine. There is now a category for four out of seven numbers, plus the bonus number, and five out of seven numbers, plus the bonus number.
There has been another number added to game as well. Participants now choose seven numbers from one to 50, changing the odds of winning to one in 32 million. The Lotto Max ticket price will remain the same, at $5 a ticket.
“That one ticket, that five-dollar ticket, gives people the chance to dream,” Kuhtey said. “We want people to dream big, think about what that $70 million jackpot offers you.”
Since 2009, Lotto Max players across Canada have won over $11 billion in prizing, with 116 jackpot wins and 1,021 Maxmillions prizes, currently offered when the Lotto Max jackpot hits $50 million and will continue with the new system.
