Canadian lotteries, by the numbers.
Figures compiled from the public data of Canada’s five lottery agencies, recomputed every morning. Scratch figures as of October 3, 2026. Free to quote with a link to this page; see how to cite.
Scratch tickets currently listed
Lottizen tracks 407 scratch games currently listed by the five agencies. Of those, 26 are still listed even though every top prize has already been claimed. The agencies publish this; it is easy to miss when buying a ticket.
| Agency | Games listed | Top prizes all claimed |
|---|---|---|
| OLG (Ontario) | 48 | 0 |
| BCLC (British Columbia) | 171 | 0 |
| Loto-Québec (Quebec) | 29 | 0 |
| WCLC (Western Canada) | 92 | 0 |
| ALC (Atlantic Canada) | 67 | 26 |
We count only what each agency still lists. An agency may stop listing a game once its top prizes are gone, so a zero means none in its current data, not necessarily none on store shelves.
Highest-priced examples: Extreme Crossword ($30, ALC, top prize $300,000).
How much prize money is still unclaimed
OLG, BCLC and Loto-Québec publish both the number of prizes printed and the number still unclaimed for each prize tier they list, so for their games we can state exactly what share of the listed prize money is still out there. WCLC publishes only remaining counts and ALC only top-prize counts, so they aren’t in this comparison.
| Agency | Median game | Most still unclaimed | Least still unclaimed |
|---|---|---|---|
| OLG | 38.8% | Crosstripler ($5): 100% | Bingo ($3): 5.6% |
| BCLC | 20.4% | $5 The Big Spin II ($5): 100% | $3 Jack Frost ($3): 0.6% |
| Loto-Québec | 60.7% | Mots cachés Sports ($5): 100% | Slingo Sucré ($3): 7.2% |
“Share still unclaimed” = remaining prizes × prize amount ÷ printed prizes × prize amount, over the tiers the agency lists (OLG lists its top and notable tiers, not every small prize). It describes the money left in a game. It does not change the odds of any single ticket winning. Details: methodology.
Draw games: four decades of results
The oldest archive here is Lotto 6/49, with 4,443 draws since Sat, Jun 12, 1982. Below: how often each number has come up under each game’s current rules. These are historical counts. Every number has exactly the same chance in every draw, and past frequency doesn’t change that.
| Game | Archive since | Counted period | Most drawn | Least drawn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lotto 6/49 | 1982 | 4,443 draws since 1982 | 45 (599×) | 14 (496×) |
| BC/49 | 1992 | 3,618 draws since 1992 | 14 (485×) | 10 (406×) |
| Western 6/49 | 1999 | 2,869 draws since 1999 | 19 (387×) | 27 (317×) |
| Lotto Max | 2009 | 770 draws since 2019 | 7, 36 (122×) | 42 (93×) |
| Lottario | 2010 | 860 draws since 2010 | 1 (138×) | 23 (94×) |
| Ontario 49 | 2010 | 1,718 draws since 2010 | 46 (258×) | 25, 41 (181×) |
| Western Max | 2013 | 765 draws since 2019 | 13 (133×) | 15 (86×) |
| MegaDice Lotto | 2013 | 4,694 draws since 2013 | 26 (767×) | 6 (686×) |
| Daily Grand | 2016 | 1,031 draws since 2016 | 37 (124×) | 40 (79×) |
Lotto Max: 51 and 52 joined the number pool on Tue, Apr 14, 2026, so they’re left out of most/least drawn. They’ve had fewer draws to appear in.
Record jackpots
Lottizen doesn’t store historical jackpot amounts, so these come from the cited reports, not from our data.
- Lotto Max, $80 million: Sep 17, 2024, shared by two tickets (Ontario and Quebec, $40M each). CTV News. Also $80 million on May 9, 2025, a single ticket sold in Surrey, B.C. CTV News.
- Lotto 6/49, $68 million Gold Ball: Sep 27, 2023, ticket sold in Toronto. CTV News. The largest classic 6/49 jackpot was $64 million on Oct 17, 2015, sold in Mississauga. Global News.
Unclaimed prizes
How long you have
| Agency | Draw games | Scratch tickets | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| OLG | One year from the draw date | Expiry date printed on the back of the ticket | OLG FAQ |
| WCLC | One year from the draw date | Expiry date printed on the back of the ticket | WCLC |
| ALC | One year from the draw date | Expiry date printed on the back of the ticket | ALC |
| Loto-Québec | One year from the draw date | “dans l’année qui suit la date de mise en marché” | Loto-Québec release (2013) |
| BCLC | 52 weeks from the draw date | — | Global News (news report, not BCLC) |
Where the money goes
Unclaimed prizes from national games (Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49, Daily Grand) go back to players through future bonus draws, guaranteed jackpots and promotions. Unclaimed prizes from regional games go to the province: OLG says Ontario-only games’ unclaimed prizes support “priorities like health care and education” (OLG); WCLC says they are “returned to the member provinces and territories as revenue” (WCLC).
How much goes unclaimed
- In fiscal 2017–18, about $46 million in Canadian lottery prizes went unclaimed, about 1% of prize money: OLG $21.8M, BCLC $7.4M, Loto-Québec about $7M, WCLC $6.7M, ALC $4M (Global News, Jul 20, 2018, citing the agencies).
- A $70 million Lotto Max jackpot from the June 28, 2022 draw, sold in Scarborough, Ont., expired unclaimed on June 28, 2023 (Global News).
Official lists of currently unclaimed winning tickets: OLG (draw games), OLG (instant), WCLC, Loto-Québec.
Sources and method
Scratch data: each agency’s published remaining-prize data, read daily (methodology). Draw history: the agencies’ own result archives and feeds (WCLC, OLG, BCLC PlayNow), cross-checked between sources, plus ca.lottonumbers.com for older Ontario-only results (Ontario 49, Lottario). Programmatic access: the Lottizen API. Lottizen is independent and not affiliated with any lottery agency. 19+. Play for entertainment only (responsible play).