Search results
Next Mega Millions Drawing
Today$527,000,000Estimated jackpotWinning numbersMega Millions08/20- 05
- 20
- 26
- 49
- 51
- 24★
Drawing days Tuesday & Friday at 11pm ET / 8pm PTwww.megamillions.comEach Mega Millions draw has nine levels of prizes you can win depending on how many numbers you match on your ticket. The bottom prize level, which is won by matching just the Mega Ball gives players $2, while the jackpot is won by matching all five numbers and the Mega Ball.
- Latest Numbers
You can view the Mega Millions numbers for all the most...
- Taxes
Winning a Mega Millions lottery prize can change your life....
- Latest Numbers
Dec 27, 2022 · If you match all five numbers and the Mega Ball, you win the jackpot. The odds of doing so are around 1-in-302 million. Here are the other eight prize levels.
- 1 min
- Overview
- Playing the Game
- Improving Your Odds
- Popular (Unscientifi Strategies
The only way to have any chance at winning the Mega Millions lottery is to play the game, but there’s no secret trick for ensuring a win. Certain number patterns do seem to appear more often in past winning combinations, but ultimately, the only proven way to improve your odds is to play more than one ticket per game. So focus less on guaranteeing a win and more on having fun playing—maybe you’ll luck out and win big!
Buying two tickets for every other drawing doubles your odds of winning the jackpot (1 in 156.5 million) versus buying one ticket for every drawing.
Popular picking strategies (like not picking a previous winning set) have no statistical basis, but trying them also doesn’t hurt your chances!
The odds of winning the jackpot are extraordinarily low (1 in 303 million), but Mega Millions offers other prizes with better odds as well.
Buy a Mega Millions ticket and select your numbers.
Each Mega Millions ticket costs $2 USD to play (or $3 USD if you add the “Megaplier”), and there is no limit on the number of tickets you can buy at one time. When you purchase your ticket, you will need to choose six numbers.
The six numbers are split into two parts: the five main "white" numbers range between 1 and 70, while the gold "Mega Ball" number ranges between 1 and 25.
You can select your own numbers or purchase an "Easy Pick" ticket that automatically selects random numbers for you.
For an extra $1 USD, the “Megaplier” increases the non-jackpot winning amounts by up to five times, based on a separate drawn number.
Mega Millions tickets can typically be purchased at gas stations, grocery stores, and convenience stores.
Buy more than one ticket.
The only proven, mathematically valid way to increase your odds of winning is to buy more than one ticket each time you play. Your chances will still be low, but they do improve with each set of numbers you play.
Make sure to pick a different set of numbers for each ticket, or you won’t improve your odds at all!
Your odds of winning the jackpot (as of 2023) with one ticket are approximately 1 in 303 million. So, if you buy 2 tickets, your odds become 1 in 156.5 million.
Meanwhile, your odds of winning $4 USD are 1 in 89. So buying two tickets (at a cost of $4 USD total) brings your odds of breaking even to 1 in 44.5.
Buy 2 tickets for 1 drawing, not 1 ticket each for 2 drawings.
Mix even and odd numbers.
Keep a relatively balanced mix of even and odd numbers. Ideally, you should aim for either three odd and two even numbers, or three even and two odd numbers. Go ahead and pick either even or odd for the Mega Ball.
Even if you don't maintain an ideal ratio, avoid having all odd or all even numbers. Very few past winning combinations have been all odds or all evens.
that there’s no statistical basis for this method (or any other listed in this section) to actually improve your odds of winning. But playing the lottery is supposed to be fun, so have some fun trying out some “winning” strategies!
Combine high and low numbers.
Of the five white balls, choose two or three between 1 and 38. Select the remainder between 39 and 75. Why? As with even and odd numbers, very few of the past winning combinations have consisted of either all high numbers or all low numbers.
You win the jackpot by matching all six winning numbers in a drawing. Until further notice, the starting jackpot will vary based on sales and will be announced before each drawing. There are a total of nine ways to win a prize in Mega Millions, ranging from the jackpot down to $2: Match. Prize* Odds. Jackpot. 1 in 302,575,350. $1,000,000.
Explore strategies based on math probability and statistics to enhance your chances of winning in the Mega Millions. Play intelligently and responsibly.
All the ways to prizes in the multi-state Mega Millions lottery game, including lottery ticket expiration periods for each state.
Jul 7, 2023 · Top tips for picking numbers. Jessica Guynn. 0:07. 0:54. In 2016, Nicholas Kapoor, a professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut, bought a lottery ticket to teach his statistics students about...
