The most popular lottery format around the world is the 6-49 lottery format. But there are many others, including 7-49. If you play Lotto 649, you know how difficult it is to win the jackpot. Now try adding one more number to match and you will get the Lotto 749 format. That is even more difficult. But what exactly are the odds of winning a 7-49 lottery game?

It’s actually pretty easy to figure out. The first step is to multiply seven consecutive numbers from above, 49x48x47x46x45x44x43. The next step is to multiply seven consecutive numbers from below, 1x2x3x4x5x6x7. Then you divide the two numbers to get your answer. Don’t worry about getting out your calculators because the answer is 85,900,584. That means the odds of winning a 7-49 lottery jackpot are exactly 1 in 85,900,584. Compare that to 649, which has odds of 1 in 13,983,816 to win, and you can see how much of a difference it makes to the odds of the game with just one extra number to match.

Why would lotteries use a 7-49 format when the odds of winning are so bad? It’s because, with higher odds, they can offer bigger jackpots. And, bigger jackpots mean bigger ticket sales.

An example of a 7-49 lottery game is Canada’s new Lotto Max game. To win Lotto Max, you must match 7 numbers out of a possible 49. Now, for each Lotto Max ticket purchase, the odds are better than 1 in 85,900,584. That’s because you get three plays for every ticket you buy. So that would change the odds to 1 in 28,633,528 per ticket purchased, which makes it a bit easier to win.

Sure, the odds of winning a 7-49 lottery game might be bad, but the concept is growing, so you might want to get used to it!