Lotto 649 Exposed — Playing It for Years!
Lotto 649 Review
Years ago, I would have hesitated recommending Canada’s Lotto 6/49 for jackpots. With the strengthening of the Canadian dollar, this is one very attractive lottery. Okay – I admit it. This is one that I’ve been playing for years. I haven’t hit the big jackpot yet but have won enough to fund my play, plus picked up a few trinkets along the way. Admittedly, my new Calloway Black RAZR golf clubs are not considered a trinket, but they do make me smile.
Can Lotto 649 be played through 24Lottos?
Wednesday and Saturday – Try Your Luck at 649 Lotto
Canada’s Lotto 6/49 is played bi-weekly, Wednesday and Saturday. Players chose six numbers from 1 to 49 using their favorite, lucky or regular numbers. The quick pick is also available where the computer randomly selects six numbers. The big jackpot is won by choosing the six numbers drawn. The second prize pays out for five correct numbers and the bonus. The bonus ball is drawn from the same 1 to 49 numbers.
Multiple winners share the prizes at all levels except nailing 3 numbers out of 6 ($10) and 2 numbers out of six with the bonus number ($5). It’s a rollover jackpot that starts at CDN $3 million and grows.
Lotto Numbers 649
All prizes – yes, that includes the big jackpot, are paid out in full and considered by the Canadian government as tax-free. If you are an international player, you might have tax considerations in your own country.
| Prize Divisions | Numbers Matched | Odds of Winning |
| Division 1 | 6/6 | 1 in 13,983,816 |
| Division 2 | 5/6 + Bonus | 1 in 2,330,636 |
| Division 3 | 5/6 | 1 in 55,492 |
| Division 4 | 4/6 | 1 in 1,033 |
| Division 5 | 3/6 | 1 in 57 |
| Division 6 | 2/6 + Bonus | 1 in 81 |
But I’m Not Canadian!
Anyone can play Lotto 6/49, and this is underlined by the fact they have a special page supplying the correct form for non-Canadians to claim their winnings. Anything under $1,000 can be claimed directly from a retailer. Anything over $1,000 has to be claimed at the specific provincial head office. Lotto 6/49 must be claimed in the province the ticket was issued.
Who Is Lotto 649?
This lottery is officially run under the rules and regulations of the International Lottery Corporation. Each province has its own Corporation for operating the Lotto 6/49, owned by the province. The rules and regulations are obvious and straightforward in nice simple English.
Lotto 6/49’s Customer Service
I’m not sure why anyone would contact Lotto 6/49. Still, they offer local telephone numbers (which can be dialed internationally), a free call telephone number, a snail mail address, and an online form. Their provincial websites have everything most players would need to learn, including the forms to claim their big jackpot. Of course, if you are an international player, most good concierge lottery services will have those forms for you.
You’ve Won – Whoops, it’s a Scam
Lotto 6/49, like so many well-respected lotteries worldwide, has experienced the usual scams that arrive by regular mail or email. These scam artists claim that you’ve won but require taxes and/or service fees are paid upfront. Some of them also include a check (deducted from your winnings) to help pay for taxes, though you have to send it through Wal-Mart (go figure) back to them. Of course, the check bounces. Just remember, if you haven’t bought a ticket, then you can’t win.
Newsflash at 6/49 Lotto
On the 15th of September 2013, Lotto 6/49 changed its prize format. They added a new free play prize simply by matching just 2 numbers. More importantly, they added a new unique number with each lottery line played for an additional draw of CDN $1 million. This draw is guaranteed to be awarded each draw – that’s twice a week. With these two changes, Lotto 6/49 claims the overall odds also changed from 1 in 32 to 1 in 7.
Why You Shouldn’t Play Lotto 649
Pros:
Big Jackpots
Biweekly
Tax-Free
Official Lottery
Why You Shouldn’t Play Lotto 649
Cons:
Currency Fluctuations
Going To Canada to Get My Big Jackpot
Is Lotto 649 Legit?
This was a hard one to investigate and review as I’ve been playing it for years. Okay – I admit it – I’m biased. But it was a great exercise to go in and look at it from the perspective of someone who had never played.
I like the $1 million new prize tier Lotto 649 is offering that is won every draw. I would have wanted to be the winner of the $17 million paid out in April, but I am still confident I will get my turn to nail that big jackpot. Overall, Lotto 649 is very legit.
steve letniak
after 40 years of buying lotto 649 on weekly basis, haven’t seen any big winning since 1982 a cheque for 139.00
Terry karmesinis
This lotto 649 needs to go back to the way it was 5million is nice but the gold ball draw is a total scam. And taking money away from the main pot. greed greed greed. Fix this. you should be ashamed of what you have done .and the prizes are totally out of wack.
I quit buying 649 when Gold Ball started. It would be an exercise in idiocy. The basic prize is frozen at 5 million dollars – with the chance of holding the winning ticket slightly less than 1 in 14 million. 1/14,000,000 chance for a return of 1/5,000,000 on a 3 dollar ticket is nonsense. The one million dollar prizes already are replicated on “Extra.” Betting on 649 is like “Jack” selling his mother’s cow for a handful of beans. The “Gold Ball,” and the million dollars prizes are even more obscure and simply not worth the price of the ticket. Someone at the Lottery Corporation lost the plot on this one.
Robert Overton
Latest 649 prize structure is just a “Cash Cow.” OLG EXECS are scamming-They
are making obscene amounts of money from a non-growing 5 million dollar
jackpot-This should have been minimum 10 million dollars. AND, here is the final insult-only one lucky person wins the Gold Ball Draw with the unique number code- further ensuring that there are no extra cash prizes in that category…”unbelievable corporate greed.” Finally, bring back the televised Lotto
Ball Draws to demonstrate open viewing not secrecy as there exists growing suspicion that the Draws are now “fixed.”
Harry Gaumer
I don’t like that 649 collects around $7m to $10m twice a week and the payout is $5m if someone won on the last draw. If no one won, they still collect the same amount but the jackpot is now $7m. What happened to the other $2 to $3 M? Obviously straight into the caq’s coffers. Talk about unethical business practices, running programs that the mob was, and probably still is, involved in. And make ALL things connected to organized crime illegal EXCEPT for the government to pursue?
I’m looking into LotoMax, but it seems to be pretty much the same same scam. No one wins for a long time and then the payout is a fraction of what Lotomax would have paid if there were regular winners.
I think I’ll keep my $15/week and buy an extravagant coffee everyday instead.
Todd Brulhart
I want to give feedback on the changes to the lotto 649.
It has gone from one of the best lotteries (one that I played regularly) to one of the worst (which I won’t play anymore).
Concerns:
1) The numbers that I choose used to be able to win the biggest pots but now they are limited to $5 million. The numbers that win the biggest pots are now assigned to me by the lottery corporation and, even worse, are regionally allocated. This makes it much easier to fix where the winners are located, and the randomness of winners seems all but gone.
2) Limiting the growth of the big pot to $2 million is a blatant attempt by the lottery corporation to keep larger and larger portions of the growing pots for themselves rather than allocating it to lottery winners. The amount that should be limited is that going to the lottery corporation itself, not the amount allocated to lottery winners.
Todd Brulhart
When you check the 10 digit number it says white ball not gold ball. So how do you win with the gold ball?