The Luckiest Numbers to Pick in order to Win the Lottery in Canada

Tue 21 Mar 2023 11.54 Olivia Cole

Playing one of Canada’s lotteries may be exciting, especially when the jackpot exceeds $50 million, but how do you pick the right numbers? Lotteries are games of chance, and no single strategy can increase your odds of winning big except for the obvious one – buying as many tickets as possible and trying as many different combinations of numbers as you can. With odds of around 1 in 30 million for the jackpot, however, this tactic might prove to be not only costly but also completely fruitless.

Still, some extremely lucky players manage to win – the maximum Lotto Max jackpot of $70 million was won three times in 2020 alone. So how do these people get to be so lucky? In February, a man from Ontario who had won a Lotto 6/49 second prize of $118,000 earlier this year shared his strategy. Rather than picking his favourite numbers, birthday, or anniversary dates, he analyzed past drawings to find the most common numbers. Our team at CasinoGuardian decided to do the same, not just for Lotto 6/49 but for all three national lotteries in Canada. We analyzed the past drawings of Lotto 6/49, Lotto Max, and the Daily Grand and identified the luckiest lottery numbers in Canada.

Methodology

Lotto Max, 402 Draws Analyzed

As one of Canada’s three national lotteries, Lotto Max is operated by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation and is offered in all provinces and territories. It was launched in September 2009 and since May 2019, Lotto Max drawings are held every Tuesday and Friday. In fact, the latest changes to the game were introduced with the drawing on 14 May 2019 – the previous jackpot cap of $60 million was raised to $70 million, while the field of numbers increased from 49 to 50.

In order to win the jackpot, players need to match 7 numbers from 1 to 50. For every $5 play, they receive 3 sets of 7 numbers. The jackpot starts at $10 million and is capped at $70 million, but once it reaches $50 million, additional draws are held for auxiliary “MaxMillions” prizes of $1 million each. Additionally, each of the five regional lottery corporations offers add-on games for $1 each that can be played with the same Lotto Max tickets.

Since the last changes to the rules were made, there have been 402 Lotto Max drawings (including the 17 March draw) with the most frequently drawn numbers being 14 and 39. Each has appeared 67 times. The least common numbers, on the other hand, are 12, 20, and 41 – drawn only 46 times. When it comes to the Bonus Balls, the most common has been 31 (17 times), while the least common have been 14 and 21 (3 times).

Lotto 6/49, 4,083 Draws Analyzed

Launched in 1982, Lotto 6/49 is the longest-running national lottery game in Canada. It was the first one to allow players to pick their own numbers as opposed to the pre-printed numbers on the tickets sold by other lotteries. There have been several changes to the rules over the years, with the last one in effect since the September 14, 2022 draw, when the so-called Gold Ball Draw was introduced for the main progressive jackpot.

According to the current rules, there are two jackpots in Lotto 6/49 – the fixed $5 million Classic jackpot and the growing Gold Ball jackpot, which starts at $10 million. To win the Classic jackpot, players need to match 6 numbers out of 49, while there is also a Bonus Ball that increases the prizes for those who have only 5 or 2 matching numbers. The Gold Ball jackpot, on the other hand, is given to a winner based on the code on their ticket – it could be either the progressive jackpot or a guaranteed prize of $1 million.

Since no changes have ever been made to the field of numbers, for this analysis, we looked at all Lotto 6/49 drawings – from June 12, 1982, through March 8, 2023. Within these 4,083 lottery draws, the luckiest number has been 45 (554 times), followed by 31 and 34 (545 times), while the least frequent ones – 14 (454 times), 28 (468 times), and 1 (469 times). The most common Bonus Ball has been 5 – it has appeared 106 times, whereas 15 has been the least common Bonus Ball, having been drawn only 60 times.

The Daily Grand, 808 Draws Analyzed

The third national lottery game in Canada is known as The Daily Grand and awards winners of the top prize $1,000 per day for life. The jackpot is awarded as an annuity or as a lump sum, in which case winners receive $7 million cash. Entry costs only $3 and to win the jackpot, players need to have 5 matching numbers out of a field of 49 plus one Grand Number, which is drawn from a separate pool of balls numbered 1 to 7.

Since the game was first introduced on October 20, 2016, there have been 666 main draws, as well as 140+ additional draws, where the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation gives players the chance to win the second-tier prize in the game. This is an annuity of $25,000 a year or $500,000 cash and is awarded for having 5 matching numbers without the bonus number. So, we decided to analyze not only the main draws but the additional ones, as well.

Within these 808 draws in total, the most common number has been 43 – it has been among the main winning numbers 99 times. The next most frequent numbers are 4 and 14, being drawn 97 and 96 times, respectively. Number 36 has been the least common – it has been drawn 69 times. When it comes to the Grand Numbers, we looked at the 666 main draws and within them, the most common Grand Numbers are 1 and 2 (115 times), followed by 7 (94 times). Grand Numbers 5 and 4 are the least common, as they have been drawn only 83 and 84 times, respectively.