Frequently Asked Questions

A: WCLC sells single draw tickets for products like LOTTO 6/49, WESTERN 649, LOTTO MAX, WESTERN MAX, and DAILY GRAND through our Lotto Spot app. The same games can be purchased for consecutive draws – up to a year at a time – through SubscriptionSpot.ca. 
  

WCLC products including LOTTO MAX, LOTTO 6/49, WESTERN MAX and WESTERN 649 can also be purchased at PlayNow (in Manitoba) and PlayAlberta.ca (in Alberta).

A: DAILY GRAND, LOTTO 6/49 and LOTTO MAX are national lottery games and are played in the five different regions across Canada. Each region maintains its own computer system and database of winning tickets, so terminals in a region can only verify tickets purchased in their own region.

To claim a prize on a ticket purchased in another part of Canada, you can either return to the region where you bought the ticket, or you can mail the ticket to the address on the back. Make sure your name and return address are clearly printed in the Claim Form area on the ticket.

Outside WCLC’s region of the Prairies and the North, the other four Canadian lottery corporations are:

·       BCLC: British Columbia

·       OLG: Ontario

·       Loto-Québec: Quebec

·       Atlantic Lottery: Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island

A: If you haven’t already, print your legal name, address and daytime telephone number on the back of your winning ticket. Anyone claiming a prize through a Prize Payout Office must present identification. Any changes to the information on the back of the ticket must be investigated before the prize can be paid.

Be sure to store any large winning tickets in a safe place until you can collect the prize. To make prize claim arrangements, read the “claiming a prize” information here, or contact Player Care. Be sure to claim the prize within a year of the draw date or the day of the sports game or event. For scratch tickets, check the back for the date you can claim prizes until.

A: The Lotto Spot retailer where a major winning ticket is sold is revealed and publicized when the prize has been claimed and paid.  

Prior to the payment of a prize, WCLC lists major prize wins by province (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta) or Territory (Nunavut, Yukon, Northwest Territories) when the winning ticket was sold outside of a major city.  When it is sold within a major city (Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, Yellowknife, and Whitehorse), we list the city name.  If there is more than one winning ticket purchased in any location, the number of winning tickets appears beside that location (i.e., Edmonton *2*). 

Because verifying the retail location is part of the security procedure, we use to confirm that a ticket presented is indeed a winning ticket, more specific information about where a winning ticket is sold cannot be released until the prize is claimed.

A: Congratulations! For claim instructions, contact Player Care. More prize claim information can also be found here: Claiming a Prize 

If you purchased your tickets on Subscription Spot, in Manitoba on PlayNow, or in Alberta on PlayAlberta.ca, you would receive an email notification with instructions on how to claim your prize.

A: You can claim your prize by mailing your ticket to: 

Western Canada Lottery Corporation, Prize Payout Main Floor 

125 Garry Street  

Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 4J1 

Clearly print your legal name, address and a daytime phone number of the back of any tickets you are sending. Depending on the amount won, you may wish to send your ticket by registered mail. A winner's interview and photo are required for all claims of $10,000 or more.

A: No. All lottery tickets are valid for a specified length of time, and no prizes can be paid after that time. 

DAILY GRAND, LOTTO MAX, LOTTO 6/49, WESTERN 649, WESTERN MAX, POKER LOTTO, EXTRA, KENO, PICK 2, PICK 3 and PICK 4 tickets expire one year from the draw date. 

SPORT SELECT ticket holders have one year from the date the last selected game was played to claim any prizes. 

Scratch tickets have an expiry date printed on the back of the ticket. 

A: Of every dollar spent on tickets, approximately 52.3 percent goes back to players in the form of prizes. Lottery retail commissions are approximately 6.6 percent of sales. Western Canada Lottery Corporation operating expenses are approximately 5.5 percent of sales with ticket printing accounting for an additional 1.1 percent. The remaining 34.1 percent is revenue returned to WCLC's members - the governments of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba and associate members Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Revenue is based on sales from each member province or territory. Each provincial and territorial government establishes its own priorities for disbursement of lottery funds.

A: The notification you received was not from WCLC and we can assure you that you have not won a prize from WCLC. We do not charge taxes or service fees on any of our games.  To win a prize on our games players must first purchase a ticket while in our jurisdiction.    

Solicitations like this are scams. Although they often use logos or names of WCLC and other companies without those companies’ knowledge or consent.  Please do not – under any circumstances – provide funds or personal information to anyone who contacts you in this way.  

Visit WCLC's Identifying Lottery Scams page for more information. 

A: When you sign up for MVP Service, you can choose to receive emails letting you know the winning DAILY GRAND, LOTTO MAX and WESTERN MAX, and/or LOTTO 6/49 and WESTERN 649 numbers on the night of the draw, as well as alerts about the upcoming LOTTO MAX and LOTTO 6/49 jackpot amounts, special offers, and promotions.

MVP members can save SPORT SELECT picks for tickets built on sportselect.com and can participate in many WCLC contests without any additional registration steps.

A: If you wish to make changes to your account and stop receiving winning numbers, Jackpot Alerts and other notifications, simply login to your account and choose to edit your Email Preferences.  For each game, uncheck the box beside Winning Numbers and set Jackpot Alerts to "No thanks", then click Save for your changes to take effect.  When you want to start receiving alerts again, log back in and update your Email Preferences again. 

If you no longer want to be registered, simply click on unsubscribe to delete your account.

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A: Draws for national games like DAILY GRAND, LOTTO 6/49 and LOTTO MAX take place in a secure location in Toronto, Ontario, and are conducted by Interprovincial Lottery Corporation (ILC).

Draws for regional games - including WESTERN 649, WESTERN MAX, EXTRA, POKER LOTTO and PICK - are conducted by WCLC in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

A: All draws for national and regional games occur using Random Number Generator (RNG) software on stand-alone computerized draw machines. RNG software streamlines the draws while maintaining security, reliability, speed and the ability to audit results.

For more information, visit WCLC's Game & Draw Security webpage.

A: Bigger jackpots generate excitement among players and are usually more effective in boosting sales than more smaller prizes.   

While anyone would be happy to win a $1 million+ jackpot, our research has shown that most players prefer to purchase lottery tickets for a chance to win a larger, “life-changing” jackpot.

A: No. The Grand Number is selected from a separate range of numbers than the first five main numbers.

Think of it as choosing cards from two decks – you draw five cards from the first deck, without replacing any cards as you draw. Then you draw one more card from a second, smaller deck. For other games, the bonus number is an additional number drawn from the same deck, using only the numbers that haven't been drawn yet.

A: The first draw is for the Classic jackpot, where players try to match 6 numbers drawn from 1 to 49. The Classic has a jackpot of $5 million – and subsidiary prizes for matching as few as two main numbers on a line.

The second draw is for the growing Gold Ball jackpot. With each $3 play, players receive a unique 10-digit number which is the Gold Ball Number. A winner is selected every Wednesday and Saturday only from the tickets issued – so a winner is guaranteed. Once the 10-digit number is drawn, a new draw is held to determine the prize amount. The winner will be awarded either a $1 million prize or the Gold Ball jackpot, which starts at $10 million and can grow to over $60 million.

A: Imagine 30 balls: 29 are white balls and one (1) is the gold ball. Each white ball represents a $1 million prize. The gold ball represents the growing jackpot. If a white ball is drawn, the owner of the 10-digit number (selected from all tickets issued) will win $1 million. The Gold Ball jackpot will carry over to the next draw and will grow by $2 million. One white ball will be removed from the next draw (i.e., the next draw will be made from 28 white balls and the gold ball).

If the gold ball is drawn, the owner of the winning Gold Ball Number wins the Gold Ball jackpot. The Gold Ball jackpot starts at $10 million and can grow to over $60 million. Once the gold ball is drawn, the Gold Ball jackpot is reset to $10 million, and all 30 balls are put back into the draw.

A: If you play both LOTTO 6/49 and WESTERN 6/49, you can use Play Both – a feature that plays the same numbers for tickets on both games. Your odds of winning with Play Both are the same as if you have different selections for the two games. Because the game draws are separate, the numbers are as likely to be winning numbers on either game.  

If you want different selections for your LOTTO 6/49 and WESTERN 649 tickets, you can buy tickets for each game individually, or purchase a Lotto Pack that includes both games. Lotto Packs independently generate sets of numbers for each game.

A: If you play both LOTTO MAX and WESTERN MAX, you can use Play Both – a feature that plays the same numbers for tickets on both games. Your odds of winning with Play Both are the same as if you have different selections for the two games. Because the game draws are separate, the numbers are as likely to be winning numbers on either game.  

If you want different selections for your LOTTO MAX and WESTERN MAX tickets, you can buy tickets for each game individually, or purchase a Lotto Pack that includes both games. Lotto Packs independently generate sets of numbers for each game.

A: LIGHTNING LOTTO is a new, innovative, progressive lotto jackpot game that can be won instantly in-store.

The winning lotto numbers are drawn daily before sales begin, so each ticket has a chance to win the progressive jackpot as soon as it is purchased.

A: LIGHTNING LOTTO sales open at 5 am CT / 4 am MT / 3 am PT every day, and tickets can be purchased until the nightly draw cut-off at 9:30 pm CT / 8:30 pm MT / 7:30 pm PT.

Any attempted ticket purchase after that time will result in a rejected transaction and a message at the terminal indicating sales are closed.

A: LIGHTNING LOTTO winning numbers are drawn at the beginning of the day, and those numbers apply to every ticket issued throughout the day (after the draw).

EXTRA winning numbers are drawn in the evening, and apply to tickets issued during the day (before the draw).

If tickets could be purchased after the EXTRA draw, a player could end up with today’s LIGHTNING LOTTO ticket valid for tomorrow’s EXTRA draw.

By restricting sales after 9:30 pm CT / 8:30 pm MT / 7:30 pm PT, we ensure that all tickets are valid for the same day’s draw.

A: The customer display screen will display a prize and that prize amount will be printed on the ticket.

If the ticket is not a winner, the terminal will make a thunderclap/lightning strike sound.

If the ticket is a winner, the terminal will make a thunderclap/lightning strike sound, followed by “Winner!".

The terminal LIGHTNING LOTTO sounds will be timed to play with the customer display screen animation.

A: We do not currently have notifications set up for smaller mail subscription wins. You can check your numbers yourself using the winning numbers results on our website or by registering for our MVP service. You may also contact Player Care to inquire.  

If you win a prize over $1,000, we will contact you to make arrangements to claim the prize. Some additional processes are required for larger prizes. 

A: Mail subscription orders must be paid in full prior to the subscription being processed. Visa or MasterCard are accepted for phone orders; cheque or money order are accepted for mail orders.  

If you wish to pay for a mail subscription with a credit card, you may want to confirm with your card provider what, if any, additional fees may apply to a lottery subscription purchase. We are aware that some credit card issuers may consider charges to purchase lottery products as cash advances and may charge service fees and/or interest from the date you purchase your subscription.  

Any additional charges that may appear on your credit card bill are not imposed by us, and we do not benefit from them. These policies are under the control of your credit card issuer WCLC is not responsible for any additional charges or fees when using a credit card for a lottery subscription purchase.  

A: Any prizes won totaling $50 and up to $1,000 are mailed to you within a few business days of the draw. If your prize is less than $50, Subscription Services will wait for the prize to accumulate to $50, and then send a cheque. If you have chosen Direct Deposit, your winnings between $2 and $1,000 are deposited on the first business day following the draw. For any prizes over $1,000, you will be contacted by WCLC.  

All Free plays won will accumulate until the end of the mail subscription. At the end of the mail subscription a new set of quick pick numbers are generated for the number of draws on which you have won Free plays. (Example: if at the end of the subscription you have won 24 Free plays, you will get a quick pick set of numbers entered for 24 consecutive draws.)   

Winners Certificates are mailed to subscribers when their mail subscription has expired. It is a detailed breakdown of the prizes that were won over the duration of the mail subscription.   

A: No. If you have more than one address a good alternative would be to sign up for Direct Deposit. 

*Please note: Due to US law, we are unable to communicate with anyone regarding lottery products once they have entered the United States.

A: The “CNTL. NO” (control number) is a four-digit number concealed under the latex in one of the Play Areas on the front of the ticket.  One of the ways a retailer can check to see if a ticket is a winner is to scan the barcode on the back of the ticket and manually enter the Control Number. 

Until a ticket is scratched, the retailer cannot complete the validation to determine whether a ticket has won a prize. Because the control number is related to the validation, these numbers are not part of the game and can’t be used to win a prize.