Lotto Max is a Canadian lottery game coordinated by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, as one of the country's three national lottery games. Introduced on September 19, 2009, with its first draw occurring on September 25, 2009, the game replaced Lotto Super 7. Lotto Max drawings are held every Friday.
Contents
Lotto Max is played similarly to its predecessor, with players selecting seven numbers from a field of 49. A single board costs $5, and each purchased board also includes two additional quick picks. The main drawing features a jackpot prize starting at CDN$10 million. After the jackpot reaches at least $50 million, additional drawings are held for auxiliary "MaxMillions" prizes of $1 million each. MaxMillions prizes are carried over until they are won, and additional MaxMillions prizes are added for each week a main jackpot of at least $50 million is not won. Initially capped at $50 million, the main jackpot is capped at $60 million as of the July 17, 2015 draw. Once a jackpot is won, unclaimed MaxMillions prizes, if any, are placed in the main jackpot on top of the $10 million minimum. As with all Canadian lottery jackpot games, winners receive their prizes in a tax-free lump sum.
The launch of Lotto Max was successful, attracting higher revenue in its first 10 months of operation than Super 7 did in its best year of sales. A representative of OLG attributed Lotto Max's popularity to the size of its total prize pools (which approach the larger jackpots seen in U.S. lotteries), and the perception of consumers that the MaxMillions system increased the probability that they could win a major prize.
Organization
Lotto Max is administered by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, which works with the five regional lottery corporations owned by the 10 provinces and 3 territories. Retailers receive from the lottery a percentage for tickets sold by their store (the money is not taken from the prizes.) Retailer agreements vary by jurisdiction.
Prize structure
* When applicable. The 6+/7 pool swells with a $60 million capped jackpot as excess funds not used toward a Maxmillions prize goes into this pool. When a capped jackpot is won, the Maxmillions prizes not won go towards the next jackpot cycle, often resulting in a starting jackpot above $10 million.
Main prize
The July 17, 2015 drawing was the first held under new rules allowing the main jackpot to exceed $50 million. The $55 million prize was won by a group of 20 employees of a Rona store in Quebec. At the time, it was the second-largest lottery jackpot in Canadian history, behind a $63.4 million Lotto 6/49 drawing in 2013.
The Lotto Max record was first surpassed on September 25, 2015 by the first ever Lotto Max drawing for $60 million, with a single winning ticket sold in Brampton, Ontario.
Prize pool
The July 6, 2012 drawing was the first to offer a major prize pool (for matching all 7 numbers exactly) of $100 million, with a $50 million jackpot and 50 of the $1 million Maxmillions prizes. Three consecutive weeks of rollovers fuelled the large payout, which marked the largest Lotto Max drawing under the previous caps. This combination of a $50 million jackpot and 50 of the $1 million Maxmillions prizes, totalling $100 million in main prizes, has been replicated on other occaisions, including June 2015.
A new record was established on the August 12, 2016 draw, with a total major prize pool (for matching all 7 numbers exactly) of $102 million, anchored with the new cap of $60 million for the main jackpot and 42 of the $1 million Maxmillions prizes. The jackpot had rolled over for eight consecutive weeks, fuelling the new prize pool record. The $102 million prize pool figure ($60 million plus 42 of the $1 million Maxmillions) was replicated on the draw of January 6, 2017.