Special Lotteries

Celebration: seasonal lottery in BC, Quebec and Western Canada.
Legion Million Dollar Lottery - Royal Canadian Legion Branches in Alberta are raising funds to support charitable causes and community programs.
Lifestyles Lottery - proceeds go to the BC Cancer Research Centre.
Dream Home Lottery: proceeds go to a hospital's MRI.
Canadian Diabetes Association Super Lottery
Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation Lottery in Ontario - supports cancer research.

Comparison of Some Lotteries

Lottery	Price	Grand Prize	Actual Odds Per $1 Spent*	Odds of Winning Grand Prize Per $1 Spent	% of Maximum Sales Given as Prizes (Value)	# of Prizes	Max. # of Wins per Ticket	Draw Dates	# of Tickets Available
CNIB	$100	2 - $1 million	1 in 2,038	1 in 5,250,000	42% ($4,433,481.40)	5,153	No limit; winning ticket is put back	March 28 & April 8, 2002	105,000
Big Ticket	$25	$2 million or $100,000/yr for life	1 in 237	1 in 25,000,000	>52% (>$13 million)	105,586	3	5 draws from February 14 - April 18, 2002	1 million
Lotto 6/49	$1	$2 million+ (until won)	1 in 54	1 in 13,983,816	45%	Varies (match 3-6 numbers)	1	Every Wednesday & Saturday	No limit
Lotto Super 7	3 for $2	$2.5 million+ (until won)	1 in 11.8	1 in 41,927,666	45%	Varies (match 3-7 numbers)	1	Every Friday	No limit

* Beware of odds quoted by expensive lotteries. A $1 lottery with 1 in 2,000 chance of winning any prize has the same actual odds as a $100 lottery with so-called "1 in 20" odds. If you buy 100 of the $1 tickets, then you have the same chance of winning as the $100 ticket.

Pros and Cons of Charitable Gambling

Traditional sources of funding can't provide some organizations with the resources they need.
Up to 10% of lottery buyers are being converted to some sort of donor status.
The executive director of the Canadian Foundation on Compulsive Gambling: Charities that raise funds through gambling sacrifice their identities. They also sink countless volunteer and staff hours into an activity which is at best incongruent and at worst contrary to their own principles, and in doing so, divert those resources from promoting the work they are mandated to do.
Some volunteers and clients may get alienated.
Surveys undertaken by various charities have found that the cause represents 30% to 50% of the reason potential purchasers would buy a ticket. That leaves 50% to 70% buying to win, and of course, failing.
Some people that never gave to the charity suddenly seem willing to spend $100, rationalizing that it is for a good cause.
Very inefficient way of giving to charity. For example, the 2001 CNIB Lottery had sales of $10 million, but raised just over $1.5 million or only 15% for CNIB.
If you truly want to help the charity, both you and the charity would be much better off with a direct contribution; you get a tax credit of at least 25% and the charity gets 100% of the money.
If you still want to buy the expensive lottery, be sure to phone them to verify important information, e.g., if all prizes will be given out even if not all tickets are sold; otherwise, nobody may even win the top prizes.

Results in Lottery Buddy Ž are unofficial.

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