The plus sign in Colorado Lotto+ does a surprisingly good job of causing confusion, because there is the game called Lotto+ and then there is the optional purchase called Plus, while a multiplier is already included before you add anything. If you have looked at a ticket and wondered which part you actually paid for, you are asking the right question. Understanding those three pieces is far more useful than studying a chart of supposedly lucky numbers.
The short version is that the $2 base play buys a six-number entry with an included multiplier for eligible lower prizes, while another $1 buys entry into the separate Plus drawing using those same six numbers. You do not choose another ball, and the multiplier does not multiply the main jackpot. Here is how to read the ticket without letting the similar names do the thinking for you.
Six selections, one pool and no bonus-ball box
Choose six different numbers from 1 through 40. A line such as 4, 9, 17, 26, 33, 40 is valid, and its order is irrelevant when you compare it with the six winning numbers. Writing 40 first would not create another entry or a special first-position match.
The multiplier printed with the play is separate from those selections. It is assigned when the ticket is produced, so there is no seventh lucky number to invent and no reason to discard a valid number because it matches the multiplier's value. The multiplier belongs to the payment calculation, not to the winning-number pool.
If you use our Colorado number tools, check that the six-number line stays within 1–40. The tool can make a random selection; it cannot arrange a favorable multiplier or a future drawing result.
The base column is not necessarily the amount you receive
Colorado's prize chart lists reference base amounts and then shows the actual amounts after the included multiplier. The available multipliers are 2X, 3X, 4X and 5X. That makes the printed multiplier essential when checking a lower-tier win, rather than a decorative detail you can ignore.
Imagine that the example line above matches exactly four main numbers and the ticket shows 3X. The chart's $25 reference amount becomes $75. If you read only the first dollar figure, you would underestimate the payment; if you treated 3X as another winning ball, you would be answering the wrong question entirely.
The exception deserves emphasis: a six-number jackpot match is outside that multiplier calculation. A ticket showing 5X does not turn the advertised jackpot into five advertised jackpots. Read the six-match row separately from the lower categories.
Plus reuses your numbers against a different result
Adding Plus enters the same line in a second drawing, held after the main drawing. This means you have two results to check against one set of selections. It does not mean you add the matches from both results together to manufacture a six-number win.
Suppose your line has four matches in the main drawing and three in Plus. Those are two separate prize checks. You first work out what the four-match main result pays, then check the three-match Plus result under the Plus chart. Seven combined matches do not create a special seven-match category.
The Plus chart also has its own reference prizes. With three Plus matches and a 3X multiplier, its $4 reference figure produces $12. In this hypothetical example, that is added to the $75 main-draw prize, giving $87 before any applicable claim or tax treatment. The arithmetic is useful precisely because it keeps the two drawings separate until the payments have been identified.
The Plus top prize has its own limit
The advertised Plus six-match prize is $250,000, subject to the game's liability rule when there are enough winning tickets. Colorado specifies a $2 million limit for that prize level; with nine or more winners, the amount is divided under the rule. This is a good reason to read the qualification beside a prize rather than remembering only the largest figure.
There is another important distinction: the main jackpot can grow, whereas the Plus top-prize structure is different. Buying Plus does not buy a second entry into the growing main jackpot. You are purchasing another drawing with another prize arrangement.
The New Jersey Pick-6 guide offers a useful comparison: it also separates an included multiplier from a separately purchased drawing, but its multiplier values and prize charts are different. Borrowing the general idea is helpful; borrowing the payout figures is not.
Whether that extra drawing is worth the additional entertainment spending is a personal choice. The useful calculation starts with the full price you intend to pay, especially if you have several lines or advance drawings, because a dollar added repeatedly stops being a single dollar very quickly.
Two chances does not mean half the main-jackpot odds
Six numbers from 40 produce 3,838,380 possible combinations. A line has a one-in-3,838,380 chance of matching all six in the main drawing, and the same complete-match probability in the separate Plus drawing. Those statements describe each drawing individually.
Do not turn the purchase into a claim that the main jackpot is twice as likely. The second drawing is not another main-jackpot result. Similarly, the official overall odds of a prize include lower match categories; they are not a different way of expressing the probability of the six-number jackpot.
Choosing birthdays, alternating odd and even numbers or copying an older winner changes the line's appearance without changing its chance in a fair drawing. A tidy sequence occupies one combination just as a messy-looking set does.
A ticket-checking routine for this particular game
Before paying, confirm the main game, the presence or absence of Plus, and the drawing dates. Colorado currently draws on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays; use the operator for the current sales cutoff, rather than treating the drawing time as the last moment to buy.
Afterward, check the main result first, the Plus result only if purchased, and the multiplier for each eligible lower prize. Keep the original ticket until every drawing on it has been checked. The Colorado game directory also lets you compare Cash 5 and Pick 3, which have different selection formats and should never be checked against the Lotto+ chart.
A complicated-looking ticket becomes much easier to read once you give every printed feature its own job: numbers identify the match, the correct drawing identifies the prize table, and the multiplier finishes the eligible payment calculation.
Official sources
Rules checked 2026-10-19. Use the operator for current prizes, deadlines and ticket validation.