For just $1, you can buy a dream. For a dollar more, you can get an "encore."
Day by day and dollar by dollar, federal and provincial governments are selling hope to people across the country. And business is booming.
Some other numbers associated with government lotteries:
-
In 2002, Atlantic Canadians spent $597 million on lottery tickets.
- The British Columbia Lottery Corporation sold $969 million in lottery enterprises.
- Loto-Quebec sold $1.8 billion in lottery tickets.
- The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation reported $2.11 billion in lottery ticket sales for the year ending in 2002.
Super 7 and Lotto 6/49 are the only lotteries that cross provincial borders. People recognize them for their grand prizes – Super 7 offered Canada's largest ever jackpot of $34 million in May 2002. The biweekly Lotto 6/49 took in almost $1.5 billion last year while the grand jackpots of Super 7 sold $1.1 billion in tickets to Canadians.
Roughly half of total revenues are directed back to prizewinners with the balance directed back to the lottery corporations and government shareholders to cover royalties and expenses. Such divisions are similar across the country, but Ontario's figures from 2002 look like this:
|
- 49.7% goes to prizes for winners. In 2001/2002, a total of $1.05 billion was awarded in cash prizes to winners of ticket lotteries in Ontario.
- 32.2% was generated for the province, which is responsible for the allocation of lottery profits. In 2001/2002, a total of $680 million in lottery profits were distributed throughout Ontario.
- 7.2% goes towards retailer commissions and bonuses. There are more than 10,000 lottery retailers in Ontario.
- 8.5% goes towards operating and other expenses.
- 2.4% goes towards GST payments to the government of Canada.
| WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF WINNING? |
In Canada's Lotto 6/49:
- The most drawn number is 31
- The least drawn number is 15
The odds of winning Lotto 6/49 are:
- Jackpot - 6/6 numbers matched - 1 in 13,983,816
- 5/6 numbers + bonus matching - 1 in 2,330,636
- 5/6 numbers matching - 1 in 55,491
- 4/6 numbers matching - 1 in 1,032
- 3/6 numbers matching - 1 in 57
In Canada's Super 7 Lottery:
- The most drawn number is 43
- The least drawn number is 3
The odds of winning the Super 7 Lottery are:
- Jackpot - 7/7 numbers matched - 1 in 20,963,833
- 6/7 numbers + bonus matching - 1 in 2,994,833
- 6/7 numbers matching - 1 in 76,791
- 5/7 numbers matching - 1 in 1,279
- 4/7 numbers matching - 1 in 60
- 3/7 numbers + bonus matching - 1 in 65
- 3/7 numbers matching - 1/7
|
|
^TOP
