Lottery jackpots of $80M and $40M up for grabs in Canada over next 2 nights

If the short and cold winter days have you thinking about an early retirement, you have two chances at a life-winning lottery prize over the next two evenings.

Those opportunities kick off with an $80-million Lotto Max jackpot tonight, the game’s biggest possible prize, before the attention turns to a potential $40-million Lotto 6/49 jackpot on Wednesday.

It’s the third draw in a row where the top Lotto Max prize of $80 million has been available because there were no winners on Tuesday, Nov. 26, and Friday, Nov. 29.

The draw a week ago did produce two six-figure winners in Kelowna and White Rock.

Along with the maxed out jackpot, there are also 21 Maxmillions prizes of $1 million available to be won.

Wednesday’s Lotto 6/49 is a little less straightforward because of the nature of the game, but there is still a chance for one lucky lottery player to win $40 million.

A Classic Ball winner is guaranteed, which means someone will be winning a $5-million prize, but the Gold Ball jackpot is now up to $40-million.

If you’re unfamiliar with how Lotto 6/49 works, essentially each ticket has a 10-digit raffle number that corresponds to a potential Gold Ball prize.

There are 29 white balls and one gold ball and one of those 30 will drop out of the machine every time there’s a Lotto 6/49 draw.

If a white ball comes out, whoever has the matching raffle number wins $1 million and that ball is removed for the next draw.

That means each time a white ball is produced from the lottery machine, the Gold Ball prize increases, as do the chances of that gold ball being selected in the next draw.

The Gold Ball prize starts at $10 million and can get all the way up to $68 million.

Eventually, when that gold ball does come out of the machine, the ticket holder with the winning raffle number will claim whatever amount the Gold Ball prize has accumulated to.

In this case, there are 14 white balls and that elusive gold ball left in the machine, which means the jackpot is up to $40 million.

You can purchase Lotto Max or Lotto 6/49 tickets at any of British Columbia’s 3,400 lottery retailers or online at PlayNow.com.