Lotto Max ticket buyers hope for big win in Friday’s $70 million jackpot draw

What would you do with $70 million? CTV’s Karis Mapp finds out ahead of Friday night’s big LottoMax draw.

Lotto Max ticket holders are hoping to hear the winning jingle as Friday night’s jackpot grew to $70 million – one of the highest prizes since the lottery launched in 2009.

To sweeten the pot, there are an additional 10 Maxmillion prizes each worth $1 million.

“It’s an interesting dream and I think that on that very strange and unlikely event that you won, there’s so much you could do with that money in the world,” said Pat Yanke, who purchased her ticket Friday afternoon.

She wasn’t the only one making the last-day purchase. OLG officials say the majority of tickets for a big jackpot are sold in the afternoon and evening before the draw.

If nobody has the winning ticket, the prize will increase to $75 million for Tuesday’s draw.

“If not won then, then next Friday’s draw will be $80 million and that’s the jackpot cap,” said OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti.

“Over the years, we hear from people, we see the popularity of the game and we slowly increase,” he said.

The cap was increased in September 2024 and has reached $80 million twice since.

People who bought tickets for this round continue to dream of how the money would affect their lives.

“I have two daughters so [I’d] pay the mortgage for them and do a beautiful, long vacation,” said Zenon Switalski, who bought his ticket Friday afternoon.

“It’d be nice to have your children with no mortgages and set up your retirement,” added Yanke.

Chances of cashing in

Experts say the chance of winning the nation-wide lottery is one in roughly 33 million.

Michael Wallace is a biostatistics professor at the University of Waterloo.

“If you flip a coin 25 times and get 25 heads, that’s about the same as your chances of winning the jackpot,” he explained.

Wallace added that when buying two tickets, chances are about the same as being picked at random from all the people living in Ontario.

“If you’re choosing seven numbers out of 50, there’s a whole host of different combinations that can be and when you play Lotto Max, you actually get three chances at making those seven numbers from 50,” Wallace said.

With potential for the jackpot to grow for Tuesday’s draw, the odds remain the same, but more people will likely be purchasing tickets.

“There is a slightly higher chance that if you do get lucky and match those seven numbers, that someone has gotten lucky as well, but the odds of that are still very, very small.”

Whether you’re picking your own numbers or letting the machine automate a ticket, the odds remain the same.

But Wallace said when you pick your own, you have the opportunity to choose numbers that other people won’t play as often.

“Lots of people pick seven because they think it’s lucky, so avoid that,” he advised.

“We also know that players often pick numbers associated with birthdays or significant events in their lives. So you might want to think about picking numbers that are higher than 12 for the months, or higher than 31 for the days.”

Winners close to home

Although OLG help to distribute the jackpot if the winners are from Ontario, Friday’s jackpot is up for grabs across Canada.

“The number one question and comment I always get is, ‘No one ever wins in my area’ or ‘I don’t know anyone in my community that wins,” said Bitonti.

“For the Kitchener, Waterloo and Wellington County region, there have been quite a few winners.”

The biggest amount won was in December 2024 when a woman who bought her ticket in Fergus won a $40 million Lotto Max jackpot.

There have also been at least six $100,000 prizes won in the area from Lotto Max in the last year alone.

“If you don’t have a ticket, you don’t have a chance to win,” Bitonti said.