 This ticket holder hopes to have the lucky numbers for Friday's gigantic $50-million Lotto Max draw. (Jack Boland, QMI Agency)
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TORONTO - Castles. Jewelry. Yachts. Globe-trotting trips. Trains. Planes. Fancy automobiles.
All of the above, and more, could be yours, if the right numbers come up in Friday's monster $50-million Lotto Max jackpot, Canada's second-largest lottery prize.
So, would you whip out a stack of crisp new banknotes and dive into the monster lap of jet-set luxury?
A survey on behalf of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG) found most people would spend a suitcase of $100 bills on a house and new car and bank big bucks for retirement or to help their families.
When Angus-Reid staff asked how Canadians would "live their dreams to the max" after winning Lotto Max, almost half said they'd go far beyond typical responses:
* 17% would start a charity.
* 11% would buy vacation property on every continent.
* 10% would buy a yacht and cruise the world.
* 8% would buy an island and invite friends.
Finally, 2% said they'd want to be the first lottery winner in space.
"We're happy to see that Canadians are dreaming big, which is why we developed Lotto Max in the first place," OLG's Greg McKenzie said in a statement.
OLG spokesman Sarah Kiriliuk said she was thrilled the largest response was about charity.
"Thinking beyond the materialism and wanting to help others, that's what I liked about that," she said in an interview Thursday. "Canadians just don't want to be selfish and spend, spend, spend."
After winning a $50-million Lotto Max jackpot in November 2009, a Manitoba couple faded from public scrutiny.
With more than the one cauldron of cash at the end of the current rainbow, OLG is offering more top prize money than the $54.3-million Lotto 6/49 record set in October 2005, officials said.
Finally, if no one claims this Lotto Max, Kiriliuk said it will be repeated next week -- with 23 $1-million prizes added, "making it the biggest lottery in Canadian history."
ian.robertson@sunmedia.ca
