Last updated October 5, 2026
What "1 in 13,983,816" means
Lottery odds tell you how many possible outcomes there are for each winning one. Lotto 6/49 draws 6 numbers from 49, and there are exactly 13,983,816 different ways to pick 6 numbers from 49. One of them wins the jackpot, so a single play has a 1 in 13,983,816 chance.
To put that in perspective, if you bought one 6/49 ticket for every draw, twice a week, you'd expect to win the jackpot about once every 134,000 years.
National jackpot odds compared
| Lottery | Price | Jackpot odds | Odds of any prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lotto Max | $6 (4 lines) | 1 in 33,446,140 | About 1 in 5.8 |
| Lotto 6/49 | $3 | 1 in 13,983,816 | 1 in 6.6 |
| Daily Grand | $3 | 1 in 13,348,188 | 1 in 6.8 |
Lotto Max odds are for a $6 play, which includes four lines. A single Lotto Max line has a 1 in 133,784,560 chance of matching all 7 numbers.
"Odds of winning any prize"
This is the chance of winning something, including small prizes and free plays. About 1 in 6 or 7 sounds good, but most of those wins are a free play or a few dollars, often less than the ticket cost. The odds of each individual prize are on each game's page.
Does buying more tickets help?
Yes, in proportion. Ten different plays give you ten times the chance, so 10 Lotto 6/49 plays make it 1 in about 1.4 million. That's better, but still a very long shot. Group play is a popular way to buy more lines for the same money, though you'll share any prize.
Common myths
- Quick Pick vs your own numbers: both have exactly the same odds.
- "Hot" and "due" numbers: every draw is independent. Numbers that came up last week are no more or less likely to come up again.
- Popular numbers: they don't change your odds of winning, but if you do win with commonly picked numbers, like birthdays or patterns, you may be more likely to share the prize.
Hospital and charity lottery odds
Hospital and charity lotteries work differently. They sell a fixed, limited number of tickets, so your odds depend on how many tickets are sold or printed. A lottery with 500,000 tickets and 2,000 prizes gives each ticket about a 1 in 250 chance of winning something. Most publish their odds, and we show them on each lottery's card on our hospital and charity lotteries page.