Skip to content

Lotto odds questioned

Local resident Frits Goossen said that he is puzzled that up till now nobody has questioned the validity of the advertised odds of winning Lotto Max.

Local resident Frits Goossen said that he is puzzled that up till now nobody has questioned the validity of the advertised odds of winning Lotto Max.

According to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation for your $5 in Lotto Max, you buying a one in 28,633,528 chance of winning an 87 per cent share of the pools fund.

Despite these odds Statistics Canada say that Canadians spend an average of $549 each, per year on gambling in lotteries and casinos trying to achieve the dream of financial freedom.

Goossen said he feels British Columbia Lottery Corporation's advertised odds are incorrect due to number duplication on quick pick tickets.

"The advertised odds might be correct if they [British Columbia Lottery Corporation] played the first set of numbers, then when they are completely sold go on to selling the next set."

Goossen added, "Looking at the number of winners of the max millions the odds show me that the quick pick numbers are duplicated and because of this, the odds of winning would increase."

He went on to say, "The quick pick numbers should not be able to be the same unless all of the first set of numbers have been used."

Goossen said that he feels the odds of winning are falsely advertised because he feels that the real odds of winning goes up by how many duplications there have been times the advertised odds of over 28 million.

British Columbia Lottery Corporation said to Lakes District News that the odds of winning are advertised correctly.

A spokesperson for the corporation said that quick pick numbers for national games, including Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max are generated by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation central gaming system.

They went on to say that the numbers are generated in a completely random and unpredictable manner and due to the randomness of the number generation and the pool of all 49 numbers used for each selection, it is possible that a number can be duplicated.  

The odds of winning the jackpot on any one seven-number selection according to the British Columbia Lottery Corporation is a one in 85,900,584 chance.  





Pop-up banner image