KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Supreme Ventures Lotto (SVL) jackpot is surging towards the $200 million mark, with the current jackpot for the Saturday, June 15 draw standing at $175 million.

SVL said it is yet to welcome a Lotto winner for 2019 and believes that the high rolling jackpot will encourage more people to play.

While the escalated jackpot may cause longer lines at SVL’s over 1400 terminals islandwide, this is not the first time that the life-changing game has rolled into mega-sized proportions, SVL said, adding that the largest jackpot was $395 million won on May 27, 2015.

SVL’s lottery draw is conducted under the supervision of the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Commission and independent auditors PwC, and adheres to rigorous international standards; however, Lotto winners attribute their luck more to consistency than to a random stroke.

Supreme Ventures Vice President of Marketing, Communications and Sponsorships, Gail Abrahams said that while players may feel that they have “figured out” how to crack the game, the game and the draw remains totally random.

“Our winners have such colourful stories about how they think they came upon their lucky numbers but at the end of the day our draw is totally random and every ticket we sell has an equal chance of winning that jackpot,” she said.

“Lotteries in Jamaica is one of the most rigorously scrutinised and audited industries. We operate under the supervision of our regulatory body and have independent auditors present for all six draws, seven days a week. Our equipment is tested and maintained daily by our local team and by our international supply partners twice a year. So, we are held to a very high standard operationally, and we are regarded as one of the most well-run draw operations on this side of the world,” Abrahams added.

Lotto is a six-out-of-39 lottery game, in which six numbers are drawn from 1 to 39 plus a bonus ball to boost players chances of winning smaller prizes.