About hat same time, the World Fair was held in Montreal and there was also the introduction of the subway system in that city. Of course, both of these events were extremely expensive and there was a need for some way of covering for at least some part of those expenses. This lead the mayor of Montreal at the time, Jean Drapeau, to come up with a way to get the money and it included a lottery draw. Namely, $2 tickets were sold and the prize pool was $100,000 big. This meant that you could win some money but that most people would not. Still, it was a great way to finance the expenditures.

This lead to some very serious legal battles, with Drapeau defending the stance and the ultimate result was that the government of Canada finally declared lotteries legal in 1969. As you can see, not that long ago. It goes without saying that it did not take too long for the first provincial lottery to appear and it did in 1971 in Quebec. Other provinces followed in suite and in the 1980s, Lotto 6/49 was first organized and it became the first national lottery in Canada. Lotto Super Max, now known as Lotto Max was the second national lottery to be organized and these two are still going strong to this day.

It may not be the longest of lottery histories, but it is ours and we need to know stuff about it.

Firstly, there is this human characteristic which makes us always feel roughly the same when it comes to the happiness. Namely, certain scientific studies have shown that individuals have their happiness levels that are very difficult to alter. For instance, they conducted a study in which they talked to people who won big on lottery, not Canadian lottery, it was an American study, I believe and also to people who have just suffered a huge tragedy. They asked them to rate their levels of happiness immediately after the events and then in regular periods afterwards. What they discovered is that the individuals relatively soon returned to their “regular” levels of happiness and that no huge winning or a devastating tragedy could change this for too long.

Furthermore, there are certain very human problems with winning the lottery in Canada or any other country for that matter. For instance, it does not matter how much you win, you will always remain the same person. People do change somewhat when they win a huge jackpot, but deep inside, they are the same person. If you were insecure before you won, you will still remain insecure. If you were easily scared before, you will remain easily scared and so on. All your old worries and fears will remain with you and no lottery winning can change that.

Then, there is the whole issue of other people seeing you differently. Most people will change their attitude towards you, with some of them becoming more likely to contact you and behave as if you were best friends in the world. There are also people who will stop being as friendly with you as you start to change somewhat because of all that money. You will even start suspecting your oldest friends, thinking that they are just out to get your money. Human paranoia is a powerful thing and a destructive thing as well.

It goes without saying that winning Canadian lottery might also detrimentally affect your lifestyle. You might find yourself throwing parties all the time, indulging in vices that you previously never indulged in. All of this can harmfully affect your health. For some people, the lack of the challenge afterwards also taints the experience. For instance, if you were one of those people who always strived for better and who always wanted to perfect themselves, you might find yourself lacking the motive, just spending the money you earned and not doing much else.

It is because of all of this that people say that winning the lottery in Canada or anywhere else does not make you truly happy. Sure, it does away with the financial pressure, but everything else is still there, even augmented by the fact that you have all that money but are not able to really be happy because of this alone.

The first of the two national lotteries in Canada is Lotto Max. Its beginnings were just a few years ago in 2009, or more precisely September 19 2009 when the first sales were made. Before Lotto Max, there was Lotto Super 7 that was replaced by this new game.  The first draw was on September 25, 2009 and since then, the draws have been held on Fridays.

In Lotto Max, you buy a ticket for $5 and you choose 7 numbers from 49. You get these numbers printed on a ticket and you also get two sets in addition, both with 7 randomly chosen numbers. When the numbers are drawn, you check and see how many numbers from these three sets have been drawn and you need three numbers from a single set to be drawn in order to win a prize. The jackpot is $50 million at the most while there are also Maxmillions coming in additional draws. There was a long streak of $50 million jackpots being drawn which lasted for four weeks. Generally, the streaks are not that long and it usually comes down to Maxmillions for the big winners to appear.

Lotto 6/49 is the second of the two national Canadian lotteries and it was actually the first national lottery game to become available in 1982. It was the first time people were able to choose their own numbers as all previous lotteries entailed numbers that you were given randomly. Until the year 2004, the price of the ticket was $1 but after a survey that had to be done due to the need of increasing the price of the ticket, it was agreed that the price of the ticket will be increased to $2. This has resulted in jackpots rising from $10 million to $25 million when we are talking about the biggest ones. It is all pretty much basic with Lotto 6/49, wherein you select 6 numbers out of 49 and see if your numbers are drawn. There is also a bonus number that allows you to win big if five of your numbers are drawn plus that one, but the jackpot can only be won with six original numbers.

There are also innumerable local lotteries in Canada, in pretty much every province where the winnings are smaller but where the chances of winning are much bigger. These allow you to play pretty much every day and these also allow you to win more often than you would if there were only national ones.