Play CA Lotto 6/49 in South Africa

There are three national lottery games that take place in Canada, and CA Lotto 6/49 is arguably the most popular of the three. The first instance of Lotto 6/49 transpired in June of 1982. Until Lotto 6/49 came into the picture, lottery games in Canada used pre-filled lottery tickets where the numbers were already printed on the tickets and players would just pay and get a ticket.

Lotto 6/49 became the first nationwide lottery game in Canada, which let players manually pick their own numbers on their tickets. With this system, pre-printed tickets slowly became a thing of the past and the new manually picked ticket became standard for all Canadian lottery games.

Lotto 6/49 was not always played in the same format and game rules as it is today. In fact, even the price of the ticket was changed in June of 2004 from $1 per line to $2 per line which allowed for the minimum jackpot offer to be increased from $2 million to $3 million. In September of 2013, the price per line was again increased to $3 per line and the concept of getting a free ticket for the next draw at the lowest price (awarded for matching 2 numbers) was introduced. At this point, the minimum jackpot was also raised to the $5 million it stands at today. Furthermore, a $1 million raffle prize was also introduced for every draw.

Lotto 6/49 is operated by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation of Canada. This corporation comprises five independent lottery operators from five different regions of Canada. These independent lottery operators also conduct their own regional lottery games which players can tag onto their Lotto 6/49 ticket for another $1.

Depending on which regional game you pick, an additional six or seven digits are added to the ticket and matching these digits as per the regional draws can result in wins in the range of $250,000 – $1,000,000, depending on the region in question.

Lotto 6/49 depends on regular participation from a large number of people as this is what enables them to offer huge jackpots and other prizes. Lotto 6/49 might be a Canadian national lottery game which is operated by Canadian companies, but it is not restricted to Canadian citizens only. If you aren’t a Canadian citizen, but you are a resident of Canada or you are visiting Canada, you are welcome to take part in Lotto 6/49.

Players based in South Africa should know that you don’t even have to be in Canada to play Lotto 6/49. As per the rules of CA Lotto 6/49, anyone can play no matter where they are, as long as they are of legal age in that particular jurisdiction. In fact, the official Lotto 6/49 website even makes a special provision for non-Canadian participants to claim their winnings. To find out other international lotteries you can play from South Africa, visit our guide. 

One of the best options for South African players to participate in Lotto 6/49 without actually visiting Canada is through third-party online lottery ticket-purchasing services. There are multiple trusted websites that offer these services to South African players. How do these websites work? Read on to find out.

There are several online lottery websites where South African players can log on and buy lottery tickets for international lotteries around the world, including Canada’s Lotto 6/49. Different lottery websites may vary slightly in how they work, but the overall process is largely the same. Most of these platforms actually purchase a lottery ticket on a player’s behalf in the country of the lottery. However, some of them allow the player to bet on the winning numbers and the platform plays the role of the bookmaker in the bet. The bookmaker type of deal is an exception and the norm is for the lottery service to simply purchase an actual lottery ticket on the player’s behalf.

You will need to sign up for an account with the lottery service website by providing some basic personal details and contact details. This is mandatory since real money transactions are going to be involved and also to ensure you are of legal age to play the lottery. Once registered with the lottery service website, you can pick one of the lottery games, choose the lucky numbers on the ticket, and pay for the ticket depending on how many lines you want to enter into the draw.

The payment is made online using secure banking options, which include Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Skrill, Neteller and online bank transfer options. Once the payment is successful, the lottery service actually sends out an agent who is located in Canada to buy the lottery ticket exactly as you have ordered. A scanned copy of the purchased lottery ticket is then sent to you as confirmation.

CA Lotto 6/49 is one of Canada’s premier national lottery games operated by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation. The other two national lottery games in Canada are Lotto Max and Daily Grand. The game format, ticket price, minimum jackpot, and the way the draw takes place have all changed over the years.

Currently, each entry costs $3 and there are additional tag-on games that come with an additional fee and depend on which Canadian province you are buying the ticket. The minimum jackpot offered is now $5 million. Also, a new guaranteed $1 million raffle prize is awarded during each draw.

The draws don’t actually physically happen, they are triggered by a random number generator and an animated depiction of the draw can be viewed on the official OLG.ca website. In order to win the jackpot, a player has to match all 6 numbers. The odds of this happening are 1 in 13,983,816.

How to Play Canada Lotto

As the name of this lottery implies, players will choose 6 numbers from 1 – 49 and one bonus number also in the range of 1 – 49. In order to win the jackpot prize, you must hold a ticket where all 6 numbers match what has been drawn. Each line entry costs $3.

The minimum jackpot starts at $5 million, but in case there is no winner, the jackpot is rolled over. The ticket will also include a ten-digit number for the $1 million guaranteed jackpot. The first 8 digits of this number are separated by a hyphen from the last 2 digits. This number cannot be manually picked by the player, it is auto-generated on the ticket.

If more than one player wins the jackpot prize, the value of the jackpot is split evenly amongst the winners. The second prize after the jackpot is awarded to the ticket which matches 5 out of the 6 main numbers and matches the bonus number. The second prize is a minimum $100,000 but has been known to go up to $500,000. Like the top prize, the second prize is also evenly split amongst winners if there happens to be more than one winner.

Each Lotto 6/49 ticket can have as many as ten lines printed on it. However, the maximum number of lines that can be entered through one ticket is limited to six in certain regions of Canada, namely, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Canada Lotto 6/49 Draw Dates

CA Lotto 6/49 draws occur twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This means that players will have the chance to win the jackpot twice every week if they play all draws regularly. Tickets must be purchased before the cut-off time of 10:30 pm Eastern time on draw nights.

Previously, the draws used to take place at a discreet, undisclosed location within Canada. However, the organizers have now introduced virtual draws that are conducted using a random number generator algorithm. The RNG is quickly becoming the industry standard in online gambling and games of chance.

Essentially, this is computer code which is designed to produce a completely random number from a given range of numbers every time it is invoked. The algorithm is independently tested and certified by an internationally recognized and accredited tester. The RNG is provided by a company called Gaming Laboratories International (GLI).

Since the draws don’t actually take place, there is no host and the draw is not telecasted from a TV studio as with other world-famous lotteries such as US Powerball, Mega Millions, Euro Millions, etc. In the case of Lotto 6/49, an animated video depicting the draw results can be watched on the OLG.ca website once the draw is actually completed.

As with any other lottery, the odds of winning the top prizes are not great, to say the least. However, in recent years, CA Lotto 6/49 has introduced some lower-tier prizes even for just matching 2 numbers and the odds of winning such lower-tier prizes are pretty good. The overall odds of winning any prize at all is 1 in 7, but the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 13,983, 816. The odds of winning the ten-digit raffle prize vary on how many people are playing.

The odds for the various prizes offered have been detailed in the table below for your reference. The lowest prize is a free ticket to the next draw which is awarded for matching any two out of the main 6 numbers.

First, the most important thing you require to claim your win is your winning ticket. If you have misplaced the ticket or no longer have possession of it for any reason, you will not be able to claim the money. The process to claim the money will depend on how much you have won. Bigger wins will have to be claimed in person at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. Winnings are paid out in a lump sum and there is no annuity option.

Where Can I buy tickets from?

Tickets can be purchased in approved retail shops that can be found in all provinces of Canada. You can also buy tickets on the official olg.ca website or through the OLG mobile app. Players may also buy tickets through third-party lottery service providers such as the Lotter, Lotto Send, Giant Lottos, Lotto Agent, etc.

Biggest Jackpots Won with CA Lotto 6/49

The biggest ever jackpot which was won playing CA Lotto 6/49 came in October of 2015. An incredible $64 million jackpot was awarded to Zhe Wang of Mississauga. Until Wang’s win, the biggest was a jackpot of $63.4 million in 2013. The third biggest win was a jackpot of $54.3 million in 2005.

The CA Lotto 6/49 is a dark horse which deserves more praise and attention from the international player base. When compared to the world’s most popular lotteries, such as the US Powerball, EuroMillions or Mega Millions, CA Lotto 6/49 actually offers much better odds of winning.

Other reasons to play this lottery include the fact that a raffle reward of $1 million is also awarded each draw apart from the jackpot and a scrumptious second-place prize as well. With an unlimited jackpot cap and unlimited rollover cap, there is no theoretical limit on how much you can win. Another reason to play CA Lotto 6/49 is that Canada does not tax their lottery winners.