Lotto Max jackpot is $70M — but a ticket could be hard to buy in B.C. (2024)

When the Lotto Max jackpot soars, the B.C. Lottery Corp.says ticket sales can rise 35 to 40 per cent.

On Tuesday, the Lotto Max jackpot was $70 million, the highest it can get. But some retailers were having problems selling tickets because last weekend BCLC turned on a new computer system, and some of the new lottery terminals still weren’t working several days later.

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“They promised it would be up and running Monday morning, and now it’s Tuesday morning and we’re heading into noon,” said Janet Benedetti of Benny’s Market in Strathcona.

“They said (Monday) the update would be at 4 o’clock. That’s more than 16 hours ago. I know it’s a huge undertaking, I get it, but it could have been communicated better.”

Shelley Wong of BCLC media relations admitted there had been some problems, but said by noon Tuesday an estimated 95 per cent of BCLC’s retailers “were up and running” with the new system.

“It is a large technology process, because we are completely transitioning from an old system to a new system (with) fully new terminals,” she said.

“This was a fully planned outage. We have brought up the majority of our terminals across the province, and we’re working as quickly as possible to bring up the remaining terminals.”

Wong said there are 3,400 BCLC retailers across the province selling tickets such as Lotto Max, Lotto 6/49 and BC/49. If 95 per cent were fixed, this means there were approximately 170 outlets that didn’t have operating terminals Tuesday morning.

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“I’ve had to have turned away at least 30 people yesterday and today,” said Benedetti. “That’s not a lot (for BCLC), but it’s a lot for me.”

Retailers receive five per cent of sales from the lottery tickets they sell.

“(It’s) five cents on a dollar,” said Benedetti. “If you buy $10, I make 50 cents, which is not very much.”

The Lotto 6/49 “Gold Ball” jackpot was also high for Wednesday, at $56 million. Wong said larger 6/49 jackpots “on average” increases sales 15 to 25 per cent.

“Typically, the higher the jackpot, the more we see sales increase when comparing sales numbers to median jackpot draws,” she said.

Wong said there were options for customers whose local retail outlet wasn’t working.

“The options would be to try to visit another lottery retailer, (or) to purchase on PlayNow.com or the BCLC Lotto app,” she said.

BCLC is a provincial Crown corporation that oversees all legal gambling in B.C., including lottery tickets, casinos and online gambling.

In the 2022-23 financial year, Wong said BCLC generated $1.6 billion in net income for the province. Of that, $572 million in total revenue and $344 million in net income came from its retail lottery operations.

In December, BCLC announced that B.C. lottery players had won $859 million in prizes in 2023. One hundred and one winning tickets were for $1 million or more.

jmackie@postmedia.com

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