Canadian $100 bills are counted in Toronto, Feb. 2, 2016. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy)
Most Manitobans would take a practical approach to a lottery windfall, according to a new survey commissioned by Western Canada Lottery Corporation.
The Prairie MORE Survey found 81 percent of Manitobans say winning $100,000 would change their lives, but rather than dreaming of jets and mansions, most say they’d put the money toward saving, paying down bills and helping family.
“After more than 50 years researching how Canadians think about lottery, we’re seeing a real shift,” said Jason Pchajek, research analyst with WCLC. “The lottery fantasy used to be the jet, the yacht, the mansion. Today, what people picture is far more grounded.”
Pchajek said four in five Prairie Canadians report the cost of living has forced them to put a real goal on hold, changing what a meaningful win looks like.
“They’d put $100,000 toward saving, paying the bills or helping family, with only about 16 percent set aside for fun,” he said. “That’s not a smaller dream. It’s a clearer one.”
According to the survey, saving or investing is the most common plan for a $100,000 win among Manitobans (40 percent), followed by paying bills (30 percent) and helping family (25 percent). Manitobans said they would spend just 15 percent of a $100,000 win, about $15,000, on something purely fun.
Manitoba also stood out for how residents view themselves compared to other Prairie provinces. Manitobans were the most likely to say Prairie people are more practical and conservative with money than other Canadians (39 percent), and the least likely to say Prairie people think about money the same way as the rest of Canada (30 percent).
The survey was conducted online by Leger among 1,500 Canadians aged 18 and older between May 22-25, 2026. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percent, 19 times out of 20.
