Filling the slip with birthdays keeps you inside 1 to 31 and leaves 32 to 50 untouched. Those higher numbers are drawn just as often, so the habit costs nothing in odds. What it costs is exclusivity: a winning line made of calendar dates is more likely to be shared with someone who picked the same way.
The game at a glance
6 of 50
Mon · Thu · Sat
United States
1 in 15,890,700
The same for every possible combination, including this one.
All divisions →
Bonus Ball
Illinois Lotto draws no bonus ball. It does have Extra Shot, an optional $1 add-on: a number from 1 to 25 prints on the ticket, a matching number is drawn with the six main balls, and hitting it multiplies non-jackpot prizes by 25 and opens several low prize levels that base tickets cannot win. It never applies to the jackpot or to the two Lotto Million draws.
18+
Must be 18+ to play Illinois Lotto.
Illinois Lotto, in brief
Lotto is the Illinois Lottery's in-state jackpot game, sold only in Illinois and drawn there three nights a week. A play costs $2 and asks you to pick six numbers from 1 to 50, or to take a Quick Pick and let the terminal choose. There is no bonus ball and no second pool in the main draw: all six winning numbers come out of the same machine.
Drawings are held Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 9:22 p.m. Central. The jackpot starts at $2 million and rolls to the next draw whenever nobody matches all six numbers. Below the jackpot, the bigger tiers are pari-mutuel, meaning a set share of sales is divided among that tier's winners, while the small tiers pay a set amount that barely moves from one draw to the next.
What makes Lotto unusual is how much one play buys. Your six numbers are entered into three separate drawings on the same night: the Jackpot draw, Lotto Million 1 and Lotto Million 2, with each Million paying a flat $1,000,000 for matching all six. Extra Shot is a separate decision, a $1 add-on that multiplies non-jackpot prizes in the Jackpot draw only.
Prize tiers
Match 6Jackpot
The jackpot, starting at $2 million and rolling over until someone matches all six
Match 5
A pari-mutuel prize, usually a few thousand dollars
Match 4
A modest pari-mutuel prize, often around fifty dollars
Match 3
A small set prize, a few dollars
Match 2
The smallest prize in the game, a token amount
Where Illinois Lotto came from
A Saturday-night game from 1983
The Illinois Lottery sold its first tickets on 30 July 1974, but Lotto came nine years later. It launched on 19 February 1983 as a Saturday-only draw of six numbers from 40. The pool grew as the game aged and the schedule filled out to three nights a week. By the time of its last big overhaul Lotto was a 6 of 52 game costing $1, with the Extra Shot add-on already attached to it.
The 2021 rebuild
On 1 April 2021 the Illinois Lottery reworked the game from the ground up. The main pool shrank from 52 numbers to 50, which shortened the top-tier odds to 1 in 15,890,700. The price per play doubled from $1 to $2, and the two Lotto Million drawings were added so that a single set of numbers now covers three draws on the same night instead of one.
What Extra Shot does
Extra Shot costs $1 more per play and applies to every game on the ticket. A number from 1 to 25 prints on your ticket when you buy it, and a matching Extra Shot number is drawn alongside the six main balls. Hit it and your non-jackpot prize is multiplied by 25. Two tiers exist only for Extra Shot players: matching one main number, or none at all.
Picking numbers, honestly
Extra Shot buys you more money, never better odds. The add-on cannot be applied to the jackpot, to Lotto Million 1 or to Lotto Million 2, so your six numbers still face the same 1 in 15,890,700 with or without the extra dollar. All it changes is what the middle and lower tiers pay when you do hit them.
One play entering three drawings does not treble your chance at the jackpot. The Jackpot draw, Lotto Million 1 and Lotto Million 2 each pull their own six balls, and each carries identical odds. The two Million draws add two more shots at a flat $1,000,000, which is a different prize from the rolling jackpot, not a discount on it.
Illinois Lotto — frequently asked
No. Every $2 play is entered in all three drawings automatically, at no extra cost.
For $1 more per play you get a number from 1 to 25 printed on the ticket. Match the Extra Shot number drawn that night and your non-jackpot prize is multiplied by 25. It also opens two tiers that non-Extra-Shot tickets can't win: one main number, or none.
No. It began in 1983 as six numbers from 40, spent years as a 6 of 52 game, and moved to the current 50-number pool on 1 April 2021, the same day the price rose to $2 and the two Million draws were added.
Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 9:22 p.m. Central. All three drawings for that night, the Jackpot draw and both Millions, take place in the same session.
Yes. Illinois runs its own online sales alongside retail, so a play can be bought through an Illinois Lottery account or app rather than at a counter. Most US state games are still retail only.