Calculators
Odds of Winning the Lottery in Canada, Game by Game
The table below lists the main Canadian lottery and keno games with price, jackpot odds, chance of any prize and return per dollar. Sort by the column that matters to you.
47 games, sorted by top prize odds.
Return per $1 counts fixed prizes only: jackpots and prize pools depend on sales. Keno, Pick and Cash Pop show their best option. Lotto Max, 6/49 and Daily Grand use the rules in force on 2026-10-29.
Source: OLG game conditions checked Oct 29, 2026 · Loto-Québec page checked Oct 29, 2026 · WCLC page checked Oct 29, 2026 · OLG page checked Oct 29, 2026 · WCLC game conditions checked Oct 29, 2026 · Loto-Québec game conditions checked Oct 29, 2026 · web.archive.org game conditions checked Oct 29, 2026 · web.archive.org page checked Oct 29, 2026
Best jackpot odds vs best return
Best jackpot odds
- Highest jackpot chance: Lightning Lotto (OLG) and Lightning Lotto (WCLC) – 1 in 635,628
- Per play, lotto games only – the smaller the number after "1 in", the better
- Counts only the chance of the top prize
- Says nothing about smaller prizes or money back
Best return per dollar
- Highest return, fixed prizes only: Keno (BCLC, 5 spots) – 67.2%
- Average money back per dollar from fixed prizes
- Jackpots and pool-shared prizes are not counted
- Not the same game as the jackpot leader
Odds and return terms: Lotto Max example
| Number | What it means | Lotto Max |
|---|---|---|
| Jackpot odds | Chance one play wins the top prize | 1 in 33,446,140 |
| Any prize | Chance one play wins any prize, even the smallest | 1 in 5.83 |
| Return per dollar | Average money back per dollar, fixed prizes only | Not shown: most prize money is in jackpot and pool prizes |
| Share of sales paid as prizes | Part of each play's price set aside for all prizes | 48.0% |
Lotto Max odds are per play. Return per dollar and share of sales paid as prizes are different measures – do not compare them.
Jackpot odds next to everyday events
| Event | Odds |
|---|---|
| Coin lands heads | 1 in 2 |
| One die shows a six | 1 in 6 |
| Two dice both show a six | 1 in 36 |
| One named card from a full deck | 1 in 52 |
| Daily Keno (OLG): all ten numbers match on a ten-spot play | 1 in 2,147,181 |
| Daily Grand top prize, per play | 1 in 13,348,188 |
| Lotto 6/49 jackpot (6 of 6) | 1 in 13,983,816 |
| Lotto Max jackpot (7 of 7), per play | 1 in 33,446,140 |
Sorted from most to least likely. Game odds come from the official game conditions.
Who runs the games in each province
| Organiser | Provinces and territories |
|---|---|
| BCLC | British Columbia |
| WCLC | Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut |
| OLG | Ontario |
| Loto-Québec | Quebec |
| Atlantic Lottery | New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island |
Tickets bought in one region cannot be checked or paid in another. Filter the table above by province to see its games.
More odds pages
Odds of every prize
Pick a game and see the odds of every prize tier.
Return by game
Return per dollar from fixed prizes only, game by game (jackpots and pool prizes not counted).
Lotto Max odds
Odds of every Lotto Max prize, per play and per selection.
Keno odds
Odds for each number of spots and matches.
Odds cheat sheet
The main Canadian lottery odds on one page.
Sources
- WCLC – Travel tips · checked Oct 29, 2026
- OLG – Lotto Max Game Conditions · checked Oct 29, 2026
- OLG – Lightning Lotto Game Conditions · checked Oct 29, 2026
- OLG – Lightning Lotto odds and payouts · checked Oct 29, 2026
- OLG – About Lightning Lotto · checked Oct 29, 2026
- Loto-Québec – Rules and Regulations Respecting Lotteries and Lottery Tickets · checked Oct 29, 2026
- Loto-Québec – Règlements relatifs aux loteries et billets de loterie · checked Oct 29, 2026
- WCLC – Lightning Lotto Game Conditions and Prize Structure Statement (2024) · checked Oct 29, 2026
- WCLC – Lightning Lotto page · checked Oct 29, 2026
- BCLC – Keno Game Conditions and Prize Structure Statement (2025, archived copy) · checked Oct 29, 2026
- BCLC PlayNow – Keno page (archived copy, 2026) · checked Oct 29, 2026
- BCLC PlayNow – How to Play Keno (archived copy, 2026) · checked Oct 29, 2026
Questions
Which lottery has the best odds in Canada?
It depends on which odds you mean. Best jackpot odds among the lotto games, per play: Lightning Lotto (OLG) and Lightning Lotto (WCLC) – 1 in 635,628. Highest return per dollar, fixed prizes only: Keno (BCLC, 5 spots) – 67.2%. No game leads every column.
What lottery has the best odds in Ontario?
Filter the table above by Ontario and sort by the column you care about. Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49 and Daily Grand have the same odds as in other provinces; OLG also runs regional games such as Lightning Lotto and Daily Keno.
Are lottery odds better in a smaller province?
No. The odds of one play depend on the game's numbers, not on how many people live in the province or buy tickets. National games have the same odds everywhere.
Why is the chance of any prize so much higher than the jackpot chance?
Any prize includes every tier, down to the smallest. Small tiers need fewer matching numbers, so they come up far more often. For Lotto Max, the chance of any prize is 1 in 5.83; the jackpot odds are 1 in 33,446,140.
What does return per dollar mean?
It is the average amount paid back in prizes for each dollar spent, over a very large number of plays. In our table it counts fixed prizes only; jackpots and pool-shared prizes are left out.