Friday’s $90 million Lotto Max draw will be the largest lottery jackpot prize ever available to win in Canada — may the odds be ever in your favour.
(Even though, statistically, they’re very much not.)
Draws take place every Tuesday and Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET. Tuesday’s previously record-setting $85-million jackpot rolled over after no one claimed it, which allowed the prize pool to keep growing.
Lotto Max, a national lottery, announced in April that it was increasing its jackpot cap from $80 million to $90 million, but this is the first time it’s actually happened.
So, what are the odds of winning? And how does this compare to past jackpots?
Let’s break it down.
Previously, Canada’s biggest lottery prize was $80.4 million, won by two friends in London, Ont., last December. At the time, the men said they were still overcome with shock that they’d won. (OLG)
Don’t quit your job in anticipation just yet.
The odds of winning the main jackpot are one in 33 million per $6 play, according to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), the Crown agency that manages and conducts gaming and lottery operations across the province.
Let’s put that into perspective.
You’re almost exactly as likely to flip a coin 25 times in a row and have it land on “heads” each time — an extremely rare probability of one in 33.5 million, according to the scientifically developed coin flip probability calculator.
Meanwhile, the odds of being struck by lightning in Canada are less than one in a million, according to the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.
And we’re sorry to say that you’re actually far more likely to be killed by an asteroid’s impact on Earth on your way to buy the ticket than you are of winning the $90-million jackpot.
However, despite these odds, people do win the lottery. And the prizes keep growing.
Previously, Canada’s biggest lottery prize was $80.4 million, won by a pair of long-time friends in London, Ont., last December. They won the $80-million Lotto Max jackpot and the $403,285.40 second prize in the combination play option.
At the time, the men, identified only as Greg S. and Krys P., said they weren’t sure how they would spend the money.
Before that, the top prize was claimed by a B.C. man who won the $80 million Lotto Max jackpot in May 2025. Justin Simporios of Surrey quit his job hours before the news conference where he claimed his cheque.
Pair of longtime friends in London, Ont., win over $80.4M in largest-ever lottery payout in Canada
Who won the lottery? Why you may never know the full name of some jackpot winners going forward
Lotto Max’s first $80-million draw in September 2024, was split between two winning tickets sold in Ontario and Quebec. The first $70-million prize was in 2020, and the first $65-million draw was in 2019. (It was actually the second time the $65-million winner, a family in Montreal, had won the lottery).
The first Lotto Max draw for $60 million was in 2015, after the lottery changed the rules previously capping the jackpot at $50 million. Two years before that, however, a record-breaking $63.4 million Lotto 649 prize was split between four tickets.
Some may also recall 2005, when 17 oil and gas workers from Alberta split Canada’s biggest jackpot to date, a whopping $54 million. Before that, the previous lottery record was $37.8 million, split between four tickets in a Super 7 draw in 2002.
Canada’s first national lottery dates back to 1974, when nine women from Quebec City split the $1-million prize in a lottery held to raise money for the Montreal Olympics.
How to play Canada’s first lottery in 1974
