Lotto 6-49 jackpot could go even higher than the estimated $41 million
TORONTO — Canadians chasing dreams of financial freedom are pushing Lotto 6-49 sales up dramatically, inflating the $41-million prize to a total that won’t be known until the dust has settled on Saturday night’s draw.
The estimated jackpot only increases with the number of tickets sold — and sales were up 40 per cent on Friday.
“Historically, $40 million seems to be that magic number and we do see a huge jump in sales whenever we get to a jackpot that’s this big,” said Sarah Kiriliuk of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
Normally sales increase by 23 per cent when the Wednesday jackpot rolls over to Saturday. With it already hitting 40, lottery officials said they don’t know how high it may climb before the terminals close at 9 p.m. Saturday.
The odds of winning?
Kiriliuk puts them at about one in 14 million.
University of Toronto statistics professor Jeffrey Rosenthal gives people a jolt of reality when he puts that probability into perspective.
“If you see an adult woman chosen at random, the chance that she will give birth in the next minute and a half is about the same as the chance you’ll win the jackpot,” he said.
It would be four times more likely for a person chosen at random to become prime minister than for a ticket holder to win the big prize, adds Rosenthal, the author of “Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Probabilities.”
Rosenthal confesses he has never bought a commercial lottery ticket, but jokes that he doesn’t want to discourage people from buying more since they bring in revenue for the government — revenue that pays his salary.
“Scary, scary,” laughed Tracy Williams, a secretary for Blake, Cassels and Graydon law firm, when she heard Rosenthal’s probabilities.
Williams and her husband have been playing lotteries for 25 years, and said he will never let her stop.
“I keep telling my husband all that we’ve spent, that’s our lottery winnings right there,” she said. “But once you start, you can’t stop.”
Business was steady at the One Stop Ticket Shop lottery kiosk in Commerce Court South on Bay Street in Toronto, with just about every customer snapping up Lotto 6-49 tickets.
And while they knew the odds are against them, Joe Teixeira and 20 of his buddies weren’t deterred.
“It’s just a fun thing to do with the guys,” said Teixeira, 45, as he bought tickets for his fellow construction workers.
“If anyone’s going to win it this way a whole bunch of guys would win it. It would be kind of nice, everybody sharing in one jackpot.”
The OLG warns people sharing tickets to fill out a form provided on its website that catalogues all the buyers in the group.
It can help avoid any controversy later if their numbers come up, Kiriliuk said.
The exact amount of Saturday’s jackpot won’t be known until after the terminals close at 9 p.m. At that time the amount will be calculated by computers, taking into account how many tickets have been sold.
However, the jackpot total will not be announced until a winner — if there is one — has been verified.
The Canadian record for a Lotto 6-49 prize is $54.3 million won in 2005 by 17 people in Camrose, Alta.
Earlier this week, a 78-year-old man from Oakville, Ont., became Canada’s newest multimillionaire.
Donald MacDonald struck it rich to the tune of $10 million in Friday’s Lotto Max draw and collected his cheque on Tuesday.
Last month, two tickets split a $50-million Lotto Max draw — one in Quebec and the other in British Columbia. Last November, Marie Fontaine of Pine Falls, Man., pocketed a $50-million Lotto Max prize.
COMMENTS
Let's keep comments:
We ask that all participants own their words by logging in with their Facebook account. It's a simple process that will take seconds and helps keep our comments free of trolls, cranks, and “drive-by” commenters.
We reserve the right to remove comments from anyone using screen names, pseudonyms or false identities. Please see our FAQ if you have questions or concerns about using Facebook to comment.