Whoever wins the next Lotto Max jackpot will be in a league of their own as the grand prize for the Canadian lottery hits $75 Million.
Friday’s jackpot will mark the first time Lotto Max will be at that figure, as the main cap for the lottery has now increased to $80 million, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) said in a news release Wednesday.
If the $75-million Lotto Max jackpot is not won on Friday, the jackpot amount will roll to $80 million for the Sept. 17 draw – the largest lottery jackpot available for players to win in Canada. Lotto Max is drawn every Tuesday and Friday.
“When Lotto Max was introduced in 2009, a lottery game that offered multiple $50 million jackpots a year was unheard of in Canada,” the OLG said in a July news release.
“Then in 2015, the jackpot cap increased to $60 million, and then to $70 million in 2019, offering players an even bigger jackpot experience.”
Who’s won big recently?
Main jackpot aside, there are 12 Maxmillions prizes up for grabs on Friday, the OLG added, meaning there will be a chance to play for $87 million in top Lotto Max prizing.
The odds of winning the main jackpot are 1 in 33,294,800 per $5 play, the OLG said, while the overall odds to win a prize are 1 in 7 per $5 play.
How would a $75-million lottery win impact your life? Well, according to one $70-million winner in April, travelling across Canada was on their bucket list.
In April, the OLG presented Doug and Enid Hannon with the $70-million prize they won from the Lotto Max draw held on Feb. 20.
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Enid said she purchased the winning ticket at a grocery store in the City of Kawartha Lakes while on the way to their “camp.” However, it was her husband who discovered the big win the following day when he checked the ticket on the OLG app.
“I was completely unaware that a winning ticket had been sold in our area,” he said.
“So, when I saw ‘Big Winner’ on the phone screen, I was shaking! My heart was pounding. I had to stare at it for a while and process all those zeroes. Then I had to check it a few more times.”
The couple say they “hugged and cried” and started talking about how the windfall would help family and others.
They kept their massive secret from their children and grandchildren up until a week before they collected their prize. The couple first sought financial and legal advice as they started making plans for the money.
With their money, the couple said they have a “few plans,” including travel. However, they said their top priority for their money is to support their family. They also intend to share some of their winnings with community causes they support.
‘This is bittersweet for me’
In February, a northern Alberta man said he intended to honour his late wife with some of the $70 million he won in a Lotto Max the month prior.
Brian Hoover’s Jan. 16 win signifies so much more than money in the bank for him — it represents the fulfilment of a dream he shared with his late wife and a poignant opportunity to honour her legacy.
“This is bittersweet for me,” Hoover said in a statement.
“We always talked about what we would do if we won the lottery.”
Winning the lottery was a longtime inside joke and a shared aspiration that fuelled many hopes and dreams for the couple, however, his wife died before they could be realized.
At the time, the Beaverlodge man said he was in the beginning stages of planning, but his hope was to provide for his community.
“We had three children, and my wife was heavily invested in their lives,” he said.
“She liked to take them to parks, any park. My first thought is to have a park named for her.”
The winner said he was looking into sponsoring some sort of program for local schools, while also planning to pay off some of his family’s mortgages and help some friends out. After that, he said he was thinking about treating himself.
— with files from Greg Davis and Karen Bartko
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