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These lines are free, confidential and open around the clock. You do not need a diagnosis, a referral or a reason to call.

1. What this lottery is for

The odds are what they are. One vehicle is drawn from up to main lottery tickets, and one 50/50 prize from however many 50/50 tickets have been sold. Most people who buy a ticket will not win anything, and that is the ordinary outcome rather than bad luck. Buying more tickets improves the odds arithmetically and does not change that picture.

The useful way to think about the money is as a donation with a small chance attached. If you would be unhappy to have simply given the amount away, it is more than you should be spending.

Put numbers on it. If every main lottery ticket in the campaign sells, one ticket out of holds the vehicle. Buying ten instead of one moves you from one chance in that number to ten. Better arithmetic, and still a number where the sensible expectation is that nothing comes back. Nobody at the Foundation plans their year around winning, and neither should you.

2. Who may play

Tickets may not be bought for, or in the name of, anyone under . That includes buying a ticket as a gift for a young person, and it includes putting a young person's name on a ticket you paid for yourself. Rule 11 of the Rules of Play is explicit about it, and a ticket bought that way is not valid.

The account area on this site enforces the same limit. A date of birth under is refused, no account is created and nothing is saved.

3. Signs worth paying attention to

Gambling becomes a problem gradually, and the people it affects are usually the last to name it. None of the following on its own means anything is wrong. Several of them together is worth a conversation.

    Two more that people mention often: planning the next purchase while the current draw is still open, and feeling relief rather than pleasure when you buy. Both are signs that the habit has stopped being entertainment.

    The hardest part is usually noticing it yourself. People tend to hear it first from someone close to them, and the instinct is to explain why that person has it wrong. If someone has said something to you about this, it is worth sitting with rather than answering.

    If you recognise several of these, ConnexOntario can talk it through with you at any hour, without giving your name. Their number is at the top of this page.

    4. When it is someone else

    Living with someone else's gambling is its own difficulty, and the help lines take calls from family members as readily as from players. You do not need the other person's agreement to call, and you do not need to have decided what you want to do about it.

    What tends to help: talking about money openly rather than policing it, keeping your own finances separate where you can, and getting advice before debts build up. What tends not to help: covering losses, or making threats you are not going to keep.

    Kids Help Phone takes calls and texts from young people affected by a family member's gambling. The number is in the list at the top of the page.

    5. Practical limits that work

      Two habits are worth adding. Decide the amount before you open the page, rather than while you are looking at the packages, because the decision is easier when the jackpot figure is not in front of you. And keep a written record of what you have spent this campaign — the total is almost always higher than the memory of it.

      Some people find it easier to set the money aside in cash at the start of the campaign and treat that as the whole budget. When it is gone, the campaign is over for them, whatever the jackpot has grown to by November. It works because the limit becomes a physical fact rather than a decision to make again each time.

      6. Tools in your account

      An account on this site is free and takes a minute. It has four things that help with the habits above.

      • A campaign budget. Set the figure you are willing to spend and record purchases against it. The meter shows how much is left and changes colour past eighty per cent.
      • A spending log. A dated list of what you have actually bought, which is the number people misremember.
      • Six questions. A short self-assessment, kept private in your browser, with a plain reading of what your answers suggest and the help lines beside it. It is a prompt for reflection, not a diagnosis.
      • A pause. Choose days and every buy control across this site is replaced by a help panel for that period. You can end it early, which is why it is a pause and not an exclusion.

      The pause is a self-imposed limit on one website. It does not stop you buying at a point-of-sale terminal or anywhere else. If you want something firmer, use self-exclusion below.

      Create an account Sign in

      7. Self-exclusion

      A self-exclusion request covers the marketing the Foundation controls: draw reminders, campaign emails and any list your address appears on. It is recorded against your email address and stays in effect until you cancel it in writing. The Foundation will not ask you to explain the request and will not try to talk you out of it.

      What it cannot do is prevent a purchase. Ticket sales run through the raffle system and at point-of-sale terminals, and the Foundation has no mechanism to block an individual buyer there. If you need that, speak to ConnexOntario about the provincial self-exclusion options available to you.

      Written requests go to .

      8. Money worries

      If ticket buying has left you short, the debt is the more urgent problem and there is free help for it. Non-profit credit counselling services in Ontario will look at your situation without charging you and without selling you anything. ConnexOntario can point you to one near Durham Region.

      Do not borrow to buy tickets, and do not buy tickets to clear a debt. Chasing a loss with another purchase is the single most reliable way a manageable habit becomes an unmanageable one.

      Credit deserves particular care. A ticket bought on a card that is not cleared at the end of the month costs more than the ticket price, and the gap widens quietly. Carrying a balance is a signal to stop buying, not a reason to keep going.

      9. What the Foundation will not do

      The Foundation holds itself to the following in every advertisement, post and page:

      • no claim that a win is guaranteed, likely, easy, or a way to make money;
      • no suggestion that buying is a solution to a financial problem;
      • no imagery or wording aimed at people under , and no young people shown in the context of the draw;
      • no association between the lottery and alcohol;
      • no pressure tactics, countdown urgency aside from the published deadlines, or messaging that treats not buying as a loss;
      • no marketing to anyone who has asked to be excluded.

      Advertising for lotteries in Ontario is regulated by the under the Registrar's Standards for Gaming. If you think something the Foundation has published falls short, write to , and you may also raise it with the regulator.

      10. Where to get help

      All of these are free. ConnexOntario and the 9-8-8 line operate in both English and French. Ask for service in French when you call.

      • Rules of Play — the conditions every ticket is sold under.
      • Draw schedule — every date in the campaign.
      • FAQ — refunds, eligibility, tax receipts and prize claims.
      • Privacy Policy — what happens to the information in a self-exclusion request.

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      Last updated .