Massive Jackpot Pay out as Lotto 649 Hits
Lotto 649, on of Canada's most popular and well paying lotteries hit this weekend on a $41 million prize pool.
The latest news is that two people will share the prize. One ticket was purchased in Ontario, while the second in Edmonton.
Excitement reached fever pitch this weekend as buyers scrambled to purchase a lottery ticket and put themselves in line to win such a life-changing amount.
The fact that the Lotto 649 prize pool jumped over $40 million made ticket sales intensify, according to gambling analysts.
$40 million is considered a "sweet spot" that generates ticket sales significantly, says Sarah Kiriliuk, speaking for the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.
The biggest single win on a Lotto 649 ticket is $40.5 million, meaning that if this latest win had been won by one person, it would have beaten the record by a small margin.
The chances of winning Lotto 649 is estimated at about one in 14 million, but for the two lucky ticket holders whose identities are yet to be made public, those statistics mean nothing.
The record for the biggest Lotto 649 win is $54.3 million which was won in 2005 by 17 people.
The two lucky ticketholders will split their winnings so that each will take home $20.6 million.
If all goes well, they will be able to claim their prizes as early as Monday morning.
Lotto 649's pot has now dropped to $3.5 million once more as the jackpot figure is reset, but if the popularity of this lottery is anything to go by, its prize will be reaching staggering proportions in the very near future.
