11-07-2025
These Canadians won big lotto prizes more than once. What are the odds?
The odds of winning the Lotto 6/49 $5 million Classic Draw are one in 13,983,816. (Richard Plume / The Canadian Press)
Winning the lotto jackpot is rare, but luck has struck more than once for some people.
Trang Pham is among the latest winners who have won substantial prizes repeatedly. The woman from Mississauga, Ont., took home $12 million after splitting the $60-million Lotto Max with four of her colleagues in January and recently collected $250,000 from playing the Instant Golden Multiplier game.
'It feels like I was struck by lightning twice in one year,' Pham said in a news release. 'You have to give yourself a smack just to make sure it's real.'
A Cape Breton couple is also part of the small club of repeat winners of big prizes. Raymond and Gaye Lillington of Dingwall, N.L., won $17.4 million in 2020 from Lotto 6/49 after winning $3.2 million in 2013.
Jason Brown, a professor of mathematics and statistics at Halifax's Dalhousie University, previously told CTV News Atlantic in 2020 that based on his calculations, the chance of winning the Lotto 6/49 jackpot twice in seven years is about four in 10 billion for a person who buys a ticket each week. Brown confirmed to on Friday that he believes his calculations are still accurate.
Michael Wallace, associate professor in the department of statistics and natural science at the University of Waterloo, told earlier this year that the odds of winning even one of the big prizes are 'small' regardless of which numbers, games or strategies you choose.
'I would always say, if you're going to play a lottery like this, play it for fun,' Wallace said. 'Don't play it expecting to win one of those really big prizes. You might, but it's very, very unlikely.'
Despite the slim odds, here are some of the people who have repeatedly won big lotto prizes in Canada:
Alberta man scores $300K in one year
James Hill of Lethbridge, Alta., won twice this year alone: $200,000 on a $10 scratch ticket he bought in February, and $100,000 on a Poker Lotto scratch ticket from May.
Ontario man scores two big wins in under a month
Ryaan Othman of Brampton, Ont., won $1 million in Encore for the Lotto Max draw in January 2023. Three weeks earlier on Dec. 28, 2022, he collected $180,000 playing Lotto Max.
'I knew the odds of this happening were slim, but for it to happen twice is out of this world!' he said at the time.
Quebec woman lucky in one week
Sylvie Bertrand of Outaouais, Que., won $132,000 in total as reported in February. She took home $32,000 through the game show La Poule aux oeufs d'or on Jan. 26, and a house prize of $100,000 from a La Poule aux oeufs d'or ticket online in February.
With files from CTV News Atlantic, CTV News Calgary's Melissa Gilligan, CTV News Toronto's Laura Sebben and Alex Arsenych, and CTV News Montreal's Joe Lofaro
