Lotto 649 is a Canadian lottery that started on June 12, 1982. While it started a weekly draw, it is now a twice weekly draw on Wednesday and Saturday nights. One can choose 6 non-matching numbers from 1 to 49 – hence the name 649. You can choose the numbers yourself or you can have the lottery machine ‘quick pick’ 6 random numbers for you. The grand prize is awarded to the person selecting the correct 6 numbers for a given draw. In the event of more than one people choose the correct numbers, the prize is split between all the winners.
On draw day, 6 numbers are randomly drawn plus a 7th bonus number. Beyond the grand prize, people can win by matching 2 or more numbers or 2 or more numbers with the bonus number. Prizes range from free tickets to cash prizes. See below for specific prizes and odds.
One other thing to note, with Lotto 649, you can opt to play “Encore” for a $1 for extra chances to win. Since it is a randomly drawn number, this site does not spend much time looking into those optional draw numbers.
Ways to Win and Odds:
| Matches | Win | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| 6/6 | 79.5% of Pool Fund | 1 in 14,983,816 |
| 5/6+Bonus | 6 % of Pool Fund | 1 in 2,330,636 |
| 5/6 | 5 % of Pool Fund | 1 in 55,492 |
| 4/6 | 4 % of Pool Fund | 1 in 1,033 |
| 3/6 | $10.00 Prized | 1 in 56.7 |
| 2/6+Bonus | $5.00 Prize | 1 in 81.2 |
| 2/6 | Free Ticket | 1 in 8.3 |
Overall, the odds of winning something on any $5.00 ticket is about 1 in 6.6 (or about 15% of the time) including encore. In should be noted, that Lotto 649’s has 13,983,816 possible draw combinations while Lotto Max has 99,884,400 possible draw combinations.