The Luckiest Numbers to Pick in order to Win the Lottery in Canada

Thu 28 Aug 2025 9.37 Olivia Cole

Playing any of Canada’s lotteries can be exciting, especially when the jackpot exceeds $50 million, but how do you choose the right numbers? Lotteries are games of chance, and no strategy can increase your odds of winning big – except for the obvious one: buying as many tickets as possible and trying as many different combinations of numbers as you can. With odds of around 1 in 30 million for the jackpot, however, this tactic might prove not only costly but also completely fruitless.

Still, some extremely lucky players do manage to win – the maximum Lotto Max jackpot of $70 million was claimed three times in 2020 alone. So, how do these people become so fortunate? In February, an Ontario man who had previously won a Lotto 6/49 second prize of $118,000 shared his strategy. Rather than choosing his favourite numbers, birth dates or anniversaries, he analysed past draws to find the most common numbers. Our team at CasinoGuardian decided to do the same – not just for Lotto 6/49, but for all three national lotteries in Canada. We analysed the past draws of Lotto 6/49, Lotto Max and The Daily Grand and identified the luckiest lottery numbers in Canada.

Methodology

Lotto Max, 402 Draws Analysed

As one of Canada’s three national lotteries, Lotto Max is operated by the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation and is offered in all provinces and territories. It was launched in September 2009, and since May 2019 Lotto Max draws have been held every Tuesday and Friday. In fact, the latest changes to the game were introduced with the draw on 14 May 2019 – the previous jackpot cap of $60 million was raised to $70 million, while the field of numbers was increased from 49 to 50.

To win the jackpot, players need to match seven numbers from 1 to 50. For every $5 play, they receive three sets of seven numbers. The jackpot starts at $10 million and is capped at $70 million, but once it reaches $50 million, additional draws are held for auxiliary “MaxMillions” prizes of $1 million each. Each of the five regional lottery corporations also offers add-on games for $1 apiece that can be played with the same Lotto Max tickets.

Since the last rule changes, there have been 402 Lotto Max draws (including the 17 March draw), with the most frequently drawn numbers being 14 and 39. Each has appeared 67 times. The least common numbers are 12, 20 and 41 – each drawn only 46 times. As for the Bonus Balls, the most common has been 31 (17 times), while the least common have been 14 and 21 (three times).

Lotto 6/49, 4,083 Draws Analysed

Launched in 1982, Lotto 6/49 is the longest-running national lottery game in Canada. It was the first to allow players to pick their own numbers, as opposed to the pre-printed numbers on the tickets sold by other lotteries. There have been several rule changes over the years, the latest taking effect with the draw on 14 September 2022, when the so-called Gold Ball Draw was introduced for the main progressive jackpot.

According to the current rules, there are two jackpots in Lotto 6/49 – the fixed $5 million Classic jackpot and the growing Gold Ball jackpot, which starts at $10 million. To win the Classic jackpot, players need to match six numbers out of 49, while a Bonus Ball increases the prizes for those who have only five or two matching numbers. The Gold Ball jackpot, on the other hand, is awarded based on the code on the ticket – it could be either the progressive jackpot or a guaranteed prize of $1 million.

Because the field of numbers has never changed, we examined every Lotto 6/49 draw from 12 June 1982 through 8 March 2023. Across these 4,083 draws, the luckiest number has been 45, drawn 554 times, followed by 31 and 34, each drawn 545 times. The least frequent numbers are 14 (454 times), 28 (468 times) and 1 (469 times). The most common Bonus Ball has been 5, appearing 106 times, whereas 15 has been the least common, drawn only 60 times.

The Daily Grand, 808 Draws Analysed

The third national lottery game in Canada is The Daily Grand, which awards the winners of the top prize $1,000 per day for life. The jackpot is paid either as an annuity or as a lump sum, in which case winners receive $7 million in cash. Entry costs only $3, and to win the jackpot players need to match five numbers from a field of 49 plus one Grand Number, which is drawn from a separate pool of balls numbered 1 to 7.

Since the game was first introduced on 20 October 2016, there have been 666 main draws, as well as more than 140 additional draws, in which the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation gives players the chance to win the game’s second-tier prize. This prize is an annuity of $25,000 a year, or $500,000 in cash, and is awarded for matching five numbers without the bonus number. Therefore, we decided to analyse not only the main draws but the additional ones as well.

Across these 808 draws, the most common number has been 43 – it has appeared among the main winning numbers 99 times. The next most frequent numbers are 4 and 14, drawn 97 and 96 times respectively. The number 36 has been the least common, drawn 69 times. When it comes to the Grand Numbers, we looked at the 666 main draws; within them the most common Grand Numbers are 1 and 2 (115 times each), followed by 7 (94 times). The least common Grand Numbers are 5 and 4, drawn only 83 and 84 times respectively.