Lottery Terms and Definitions Glossary

Agent – A retail outlet for lottery tickets.

Annuity – It is like a mortgage. Lotteries sometimes use annuities to create higher jackpots than they have the cash for. An annuity backed jackpot winner collects the money in installments over several years, typically over 20 or 25 years.

Bonus Ball – An extra ball drawn in the Lottery. For example: matching 5 numbers and the ‘Bonus Ball’ wins the second highest prize in the 6/49 and super seven lottery draws.

Breakopen – An instant-win ticket on which the player tears open a flap to see if the ticket is a winner. Also called ‘Pulltabs’. Breakopens are often sold by charities and occasionally by provincial lotteries.

Cash Lotto – A lotto game awarded as a lump-sum cash payment. Cash lotto games typically have a smaller top prize than large jackpot games, more favorable odds of winning the top prize, and require players to select fewer numbers out of a smaller field.

Cash Option – A large jackpot that the winner elects to receive as a lump sum cash payment rather than an ‘Annuity’ (see above) over several years.

Cash Payoff – A lottery prize that will be paid out all at one time, rather than over several years.

Commission – The fee paid to retail outlets for selling lottery tickets. Commissions in North America typically range between 5 percent and 6 percent of the price of the ticket.

Daily Game – This can refer to any game where winners are determined once a day such as Keno or the Pick 3 or Pick 4 games.

Draw – The lottery results.

Exact Order – (Also, Straight) Numbers drawn in the same order as played.

Fixed Payouts – Fixed lottery prizes for each dollar played.

Hopper – A rotating container where the lottery balls are placed that continually mixes the balls.

Hot or Overdrawn – A digit that over a period of time is drawn more often than the norm. Some play these numbers because they are ‘Hot’.

Instant Game – A lottery ticket that requires the player to remove a latex coating to determine if the ticket is a winner. Also called a ‘Scratch-off Game’ or ‘Scratcher’.

Jackpot – The top prize for a lotto or lottery game. Jackpots are usually ‘Parimutuels’ (see below). If not won in the next drawing, they ‘roll over’ to the next drawing and increase in size/amount.

Keno – A lotto game in which several numbers (typically 20) are drawn from a large field of numbers (typically 80). Players select a set of numbers from the main field (usually a minimum of 3 numbers up to a maximum of 10 numbers) and are awarded prizes based on how many of their numbers match those in the drawn set.

Lotto, Lottery – In a typical lotto game, a player selects six numbers from a set of 49. At a predetermined time, six numbers are randomly drawn by the lottery corporation. The player wins the grand prize if all six of their numbers match those chosen in the random drawing. The player can also win smaller prizes for matching three, four, or five of the drawn numbers.

Natural Selection – A selection of numbers made by the player as opposed to a ‘Quick Pick’ or random computer number selection.

Off-line Game – A lottery game that does not require the use of a computer terminal for purchase. Instant and passive games are examples of off-line games.

Online Game – A lottery game where tickets are purchased through a network of computer terminals located at retail outlets. The terminals are linked to a central computer that records the wagers. Examples of online games include lotto, keno and numbers games.

Parimutuel or Pari-mutuel – A common method of payoffs that splits the total available money between all winners of a particular prize level.

Passive Game – A lottery game similar to a raffle where a player buys a ticket with preprinted numbers. The lottery later randomly draws numbers that are compared to the players’ tickets to determine the winners.

Quick Pick – A random selection of numbers made by computer.

Repeat – A number that contains at least one of the digits that was drawn the previous day or the previous draw.

Rollover – An event that occurs when the lottery jackpot or a jackpot game is not won. The jackpot thus ‘rolls over’ to the next drawing, resulting in a bigger jackpot for that drawing.

Scratch-off Game – See ‘Instant Game’ above.

Terminal – A computerized device located at a lottery retailer that is used to sell lottery tickets and online games and to validate winning tickets of lottery, online and instant games. Terminals are connected to a lottery’s central computers by phone line.

Tree System – A way of organizing numbers to play for a straight win so that potential combinations are not missed. Similar to a ‘Wheeling System’.

Wheeling System – A way of organizing and playing a set of numbers to improve the chances of winning multiple prizes.

Withholding Tax – In jurisdictions where lottery winnings are not considered windfalls the anticipated tax amount deducted from prize payments.