Playing birthdays doesn't hurt your odds of matching six numbers, but it does raise your odds of splitting the prize if you win. Calendar picks cluster on 1 through 31, leaving the numbers from 32 to 49 chosen far less often, so a jackpot hit on low numbers is more likely to be shared.
The game at a glance
6 of 49 + Bonus
Wed · Sat
Canada
1 in 13,983,816
The same for every possible combination, including this one.
Bonus Number
After the six main numbers are drawn, a Bonus Number is pulled from the remaining 43 balls. Players don't pick it themselves; it only comes into play for the 5+Bonus second prize and the 2+Bonus tier.
18+
Must be 18+ (19+ in some provinces) to play Lotto 6/49.
Lotto 6/49, in brief
Lotto 6/49 is Canada's original national lottery, run by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation and sold through the regional lottery bodies in every province and territory. A play asks you to pick six numbers from 1 to 49, and matching all six against the Classic Draw wins a fixed $5 million jackpot.
Since a September 2022 redesign, every ticket actually enters two draws at once. Alongside your six chosen numbers, each play carries a computer-generated Gold Ball Draw number for a separate raffle. Every draw night one of those raffle numbers is selected, and that ticket holder wins either $1 million or the Gold Ball jackpot, which starts at $10 million and keeps climbing until the gold ball finally comes out of the machine.
Draws are held Wednesday and Saturday evenings. A seventh ball, the Bonus Number, is drawn from the 43 numbers left over after the main six; it doesn't affect the jackpot but decides the second prize and one of the smaller tiers.
Prize tiers
6 numbersJackpot
The fixed $5,000,000 Classic Jackpot, split evenly if more than one ticket matches
5 numbers + Bonus
A share of the pools fund, historically often six figures
5 numbers
A share of the pools fund, typically in the low thousands
4 numbers
A share of the pools fund, usually under a hundred dollars
3 numbers
A small fixed cash prize
2 numbers + Bonus
A small fixed cash prize
2 numbers
A free play on a future draw
Where Lotto 6/49 came from
Canada's first pick-your-own game
Lotto 6/49 launched in June 1982 as the first nationwide Canadian lottery that let players choose their own numbers instead of buying a preprinted ticket. The Interprovincial Lottery Corporation, a joint body owned by the provinces, has run the draws ever since, with the same 6-from-49 matrix in place for over four decades.
The Bonus Number
From the start, the game has drawn a seventh ball from the 43 numbers not among the main six. Matching five main numbers plus this Bonus Number wins the second prize, which historically has paid out well into six figures. It's a drawn number, not a picked one, so no play slip has ever had a box for it.
The 2022 Gold Ball redesign
In September 2022 the game was rebuilt around two jackpots per draw. The old growing jackpot became a fixed $5 million Classic Jackpot, and the former guaranteed $1 million prize draw was replaced by the Gold Ball Draw: one ticket's raffle number is selected each night, and a ball machine decides whether that ticket wins $1 million (a white ball) or the entire Gold Ball jackpot (the gold ball). Because a white ball is removed after each draw, the gold ball is guaranteed to surface eventually, by which point the jackpot can have grown to several times its $10 million starting point.
Picking numbers, honestly
A number that hasn't appeared in fifty draws is not due. Every draw pulls from the same 49 balls with no memory of previous results, so cold numbers and hot numbers carry exactly the same odds next Wednesday.
You can win one of the game's two jackpots without matching a single number you picked. The Gold Ball Draw works off the raffle number printed on your ticket, completely separate from your six chosen numbers, and it hands out at least $1 million every single draw.
Lotto 6/49 — frequently asked
A seventh ball drawn from the 43 numbers left after the main six. You never pick it; it only matters if you've already matched five main numbers (the second prize) or exactly two (the 2+Bonus tier).
Every ticket gets a unique raffle number. Each draw night one is selected, and that winner receives $1 million if a white ball comes out of the Gold Ball machine, or the full Gold Ball jackpot if the gold ball does. The jackpot starts at $10 million and grows every draw until the gold ball appears.
Matching all six numbers is a 1 in 13,983,816 shot, the textbook odds of choosing 6 from 49. That wins the fixed $5 million Classic Jackpot.
The September 2022 redesign traded one rolling jackpot for two top prizes per draw: a fixed $5 million Classic Jackpot plus the growing Gold Ball jackpot. The ticket price stayed at $3 per play.
Two main numbers on their own earn a free play on a future draw. Two main numbers plus the Bonus Number pay a small fixed cash prize instead.