Mega Millions Lottery Tips

Mega Millions is a popular multi-state lottery which currently has a 5/56+1/46 number format. When it started in May 2002, Mega Millions replaced the Big Game lottery. First Mega Millions copies Powerball's game format, then tries to replace it as America's Favorite Lottery Game. In an effort to top the Powerball jackpots, the new Mega Millions lottery has increased the jackpot odds by 40 percent—and added more states to the mix.

Gail Howard is sharing a few lottery tips on number selection from her lotto strategy book, Lottery Master Guide, which have been customized for this specific game: MEGA Millions (Additional best tools for how to win Mega Millions lotto.)

Odds of Winning Mega Millions

As of June 24, 2005, the odds of winning all those hundreds of millions are one in 176 million (up from 1:135 million). When you realize that the entire population of the United States is over 310 million and the odds of winning the MEGA Millions jackpot are one in 175,711,536, it is a mystery why anyone would buy a lottery ticket for this game and have any expectation of winning the jackpot. (If the jackpot IS hit too often for the MEGA Millions lottery officials, the next name change will probably be MEGA BILLIONS! The highest jackpot on record for this game was already more than half a billion!)

The odds of winning second prize for $250,000 are one in 3.8 million — which is the same as the first prize jackpot odds of a 6/40 game. So, the ROB (Return On Bet) is very poor for the other prize categories as well. But, this is still a very popular game due to the draw of very high jackpots.

How to Play Mega Millions

To play Mega Millions, a lotto player chooses five numbers (White Balls) from 56 numbers, and then selects one Gold MEGA Ball number from 1 to 46. Each game play on a ticket costs $1. In Texas and most other locations, you can also choose to pay an addition $1 per game to multiply any non-jackpot prizes by 2x, 3x, or 4x with the Megaplier to increase your smaller winnings. The Kicker is another extra $1 option, but it is available only to players in Ohio. Drawings are held twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

You can buy a Mega Millions ticket from an official ticket dealer in any of the states participating in MEGA Millions: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida (*NEW), Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Winning the Mega Millions Jackpot

The Mega Millions jackpot starts at $12 million dollars, but most often grows from that into a very large jackpot since the game is played in so many states and is so difficult to win. Jackpots in the hundreds of millions of dollars range are not uncommon for Mega Millions.

Mega Millions holds the record for the largest jackpot in the world and has had the top spot for years. Mega Millions beat its previous world jackpot record (made on March 6, 2007 with a $390 million jackpot) on March 30, 2012 with a jackpot of $656 million which was split among 3 winners. The largest Mega Millions jackpot ever won on a single ticket was $319 million on March 25, 2011.

In addition to the lotto jackpot, there are eight other ways to win Mega Millions in prize categories from $2 (Mega Ball only) to $250,000 (for 5 numbers matched without the Mega Ball). You can win a Mega Millions prize just for matching the Mega Ball alone, and prizes increase the more regular number winners you match with the Mega Ball. Or, match three or more 5/56 numbers to win prizes without the Mega Ball.

Gail Howard's Lottery Strategies to Help You Win Mega Millions

All it takes is a buck — and an enormous amount of luck — and some Smart Luck^® Mega Millions strategies, of course. In spite of the tremendous odds against winning Megamillions, how to win the game is a combination of several things you can do to play smart.

Below are a few mega millions tips to help you learn how to win Mega Millions, but for best winning results, Gail Howard's book, Lottery Master Guide, explains all of her successful methods of number selection in great detail with examples of patterns shown throughout. Advantage Plus software makes all the charts which show you the best ways to win Mega Millions; and the Wheeling Software to use is Wheel Five Gold.

Wheeling with a Mega Millions and Powerball Type Lotto Game

Treat the five mega million white balls as you would any pick-5 game. Wheel them using the Balanced Wheels^® in the Wheel Five Gold software or the book, Lotto Wheel Five to Win. Do not wheel the Gold MEGA Ball. The Gold MEGA Ball number is marked on a separate set of 46 numbers on your bet slip and should be chosen separately.

If you use the Advantage Plus software, when pressing Alt-B you can see all the charts for the five white balls; or use the separate lotto file created for just the mega ball. Or see all the charts for all six balls together (which Gail Howard does not recommend). See more about wheeling with Mega Millions or about strategizing for just the Mega Ball number.

Lottery numbers are randomly drawn. But randomly drawn numbers form patterns that can be tracked and used to our advantage. Having carefully analyzed all the drawings in past lotto results of more than 190 different lotto games worldwide, with histories going back as far as 1955, Gail Howard has verified the following incredibly simple rule:

The key to Gail Howard's successful lotto number selection methods is playing the probabilities. If you play a pattern that occurs only five percent of the time, you can expect that pattern to lose 95 percent of the time, giving you no chance to win 95 percent of the time. So, don't buck the probabilities.

How to WIN MEGA Millions

ODD-EVEN LOTTO NUMBER TIPS

When you select your Mega Millions best playing numbers, try to have a relatively even mix of odd and even numbers. All odd numbers or all even numbers are rarely drawn, occurring less than 3 percent of the time. The best mix is to have 3/2 or 2/3 which means three odd and two even, or two odd and three even. One of these two patterns will occur in 68 percent of the drawings.

HIGH-LOW LOTTO NUMBER TIPS

Winning numbers are usually spread across the entire number field. If we take a number field and cut it in half, we have the low half and the high half. In a 56-number game like Mega Millions, numbers 1 to 28 would be in the low half, and numbers 29 to 56 would be in the high half. All high numbers or all low numbers are rarely drawn, occurring only 3 percent of the time. The best mix is to have 3/2 or 2/3 which means three high and two low, or two high and three low. One of these two patterns will occur in 64 percent of the drawings.

LOTTERY NUMBER GROUP STRATEGIES

Look at a list of past Mega Millions winning combos, and you'll see, more often than not, that one or more of the number groups is not represented. For example, in the combination 5-14-32-43-56, there are no 20's. Tracking and studying Number Groups can help you decide which group to omit and which group to give extra heavy play.

LOTTERY GAMES SKIPPED STRATEGIES

List the number of games skipped (games out) since the last hit (win) for each of the winning numbers during the last five games. Then mark the number of times each skip occurred. If any skip from 0 to 5 did not occur, play the Lotto numbers that are out that many games. (Help working with lotto games skipped.)

LOTTO NUMBER SUM ADVICE - PLAY A BALANCED GAME^®

After you choose five Mega Millions lottery numbers you want to play, add them together and make sure that the sum of the five numbers adds up to somewhere between 106 and 179. Sums that fall within that range (the Most Probable Range of Sums) will account for over 70 percent of all lottery jackpots won.

REPEAT HITS LOTTERY TIPS

In the 5/56 MEGA Millions, on average, one lottery number will be a repeat hit from the last drawing every other drawing or 42 percent of the time.

HOT NUMBER LOTTERY SECRETS

Numbers that have been out (losers) for six games or less account for almost half of the winning numbers. Losing numbers that have been out for 11 games or less account for about two-thirds of all the winning sets of five. Losing numbers that have been out for 14 games or less account for about three-quarters of all the winning numbers. This tells us that relatively hot numbers are more likely to hit, but don't forget to include at least one long shot number in your group of 5.

COLD NUMBER LOTTERY SECRETS

It is difficult to know when a cold number will end a long losing streak. If you play a number every drawing because you think it is due, you could be chasing it for many months. Excluding the mega ball, for Mega Millions, number 35 skipped 90 games between hits in the main 5/56 number field, and six other numbers have had losing streaks of more than 60 games.

Lottery Pools and Lottery Syndicates

POOL YOUR WAY TO LOTTO RICHES

Several of the 106 Lotto jackpots won with Gail Howard's lottery systems were won by groups of people who pooled their money. Sharing the ticket cost with others stretches your Lotto budget. By playing with a group, you can afford to buy more lottery tickets—and play larger wheeling systems—than you could (or should) by yourself. Draw up an agreement and have the members of your pool sign it.

How to Get Lucky in Lotto

CASH IN ON THE LUCK OF OTHERS

When you form a Lotto pool, your group is also pooling its aggregate luck. A jackpot could happen because of the luck just one member brings to your pool. Select your partners carefully. Share your luck with winners, not losers. Avoid negative people. Not only are they unlucky, but they dampen enthusiasm and drain energy from others. You want to enhance your own luck, not dilute its strength. One quick way to tell winners from losers is simply to ask them: "Do you think you are a lucky person?" Many people quickly admit, "I'm unlucky. I never win anything." They won't bring good luck to your group either.

CASH IN ON A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

No one should play games of chance out of desperation because they need the winnings. The needy have a greater fear of losing the hard-earned money they gamble with. It is just one of life's dirty tricks that the very fear of losing blocks the winning forces. Thoughts are charged with energy, especially when triggered by emotion. Fear attracts exactly that which one fears. A strong desire for a goal that is charged with positive energy, attracts a positive response, especially when every effort is made to attain that goal - Anyone can win Mega Millions with the right strategies and attitude.

Lottery Wheels

USE BALANCED WHEEL^® SYSTEMS

Balanced Wheeling^® Systems allow you to bet a large group of numbers (more than 5), play scientific combinations of that group of numbers, and get a specific minimum win guarantee. Balanced Wheels^® force all the winning numbers that are in your group to come together to give you at least one prize if some or all of the winning numbers are in your chosen group.

It's true that the more numbers you wheel, the easier it is to trap the winning numbers in your chosen group. But to get the most leverage for your money, the optimum number of numbers to wheel is not more than four or five numbers over HALF the numbers in your game. So, for the best way to win Mega Millions, wheel less than about 32 of the 56 total numbers. Otherwise, you'll be spending MORE money chasing a SMALLER guaranteed prize. You benefit more by wheeling a carefully selected group of lotto numbers.

THE BEST WAY TO WHEEL ALL THE LOTTO NUMBERS IN YOUR GAME

Any one wheeling system that covers ALL the numbers in the game is too spread out, making the win guarantee not worth the wager. There are smart ways to wheel all the Mega Millions numbers by using Trap-by-Overlap and other wheeling strategies covered on pages 137 to 142 in Gail Howard's lotto book, Lottery Master Guide.

Most of Gail Howard's lottery winners used a Balanced Wheel^® in addition to her Smart Luck^® number selection methods. You can use a FREE interactive Balanced Wheel^® System that won multiple jackpots. Read about Gail Howard's lottery winners, too. And when you win the mega millions jackpot with Gail Howard's lotto systems, tell us about it so you can be added to Gail Howard's growing list of winners. If you don't want your name publicized, Gail Howard will honor that.

Save Money by Knowing Lotto Numbers to Avoid

Lotto players who select their lottery numbers thoughtlessly or foolishly are destined to lose even before the drawing takes place, especially with a game with very low winning odds like Mega Millions. By knowing which number combinations and patterns to avoid, you'll have an advantage over such players—and save money, too.

AVOID NUMBER COMBINATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN DRAWN BEFORE

Many players like to bet the numbers that have won someone else a big jackpot, and by doing so, they are almost guaranteed NOT to win one themselves. In MEGA Millions, with two drawings a week, a set of five numbers plus the Gold MEGA Ball has a chance of being drawn once every 1,689,534 years!!! This should also answer the question Gail Howard is so often asked, "Shouldn't I keep playing the same set of numbers every week because they are due to hit sometime?"

AVOID BETTING FIVE CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS

Even four consecutive numbers is a very rare occurrence that, in most Lotto games, has never happened once. In the current number format, Mega Millions has only had three consecutive numbers occur in 7 drawings, which is a rate of only about 1 percent of drawings.

AVOID BETTING ONE LOTTO NUMBER GROUP

Never choose all five numbers from one number group, such as all single digits, or all teens, or all 20's, etc. All five winning numbers drawn from one group is highly unlikely.

AVOID THE COMBINATION 1-2-3-4-5

The most popular set of numbers most often played is: 1-2-3-4-5. Thousands of tickets are bought with this combination every drawing. The selection is too far out of balance to come up in a random drawing.

AVOID PATTERN BETTING

Pattern betting is an even more popular method of marking bet slips, but it is not a good way to win Mega Millions. Patterns of numbers marked in a row to make a straight line, either across the bet slip vertically or diagonally get heavy play—which means sharing the prize with others if the numbers are drawn as winners. Other designs such as patterns of initials or numbers or crosses also get heavy play.

AVOID NUMBER MULTIPLES

Other Mega Millions popular number combinations that get heavy play are the number multiples, especially 5-10-15-20-25 and 7-14-21-28-35.

AVOID ALL SAME LAST DIGITS

Many people like to play same last digits, such as 3-13-23-33-43, or all digits that end in seven, or some other favorite lucky lottery number. Even four same last digits occur in less than two-tenths of one percent of all drawings and has not yet happened once in the current number format of Mega Millions. Winning sets of numbers with no more than one repeated last digit represent nearly 90 percent of all drawings.

AVOID LOW NUMBER COMBINATIONS

The majority of Lotto players like to play the calendar numbers, such as birth dates and anniversaries—and their children's ages. This means that the most heavily played numbers are 1 through 31. MEGA Millions has 56 numbers. If you play only the calendar numbers, you might be sharing your jackpot with dozens of other winners who used these popular numbers on their own Mega Millions ticket, and your tickets will be very unbalanced with no high numbers. It's not to say that you shouldn't play your personal numbers if you feel these lucky numbers are good to play. But Gail Howard recommends that you include a couple of high numbers so that just in case your numbers do hit, you win a prize that's worth something.

In Lotto, the Trend is Your Friend

The shortest, easiest way to search for Lotto numbers that have the greatest probability of winning is to track the trends. Gail Howard's Smart Luck strategies show you how to understand and use historical data. Advantage Plus is the best lotto strategy software which has a vast assortment of charts and reports that allow you to examine your lotto numbers in an infinite variety of ways. Advantage Plus teaches you to understand and use historical data to win more Mega Millions prizes.

Win with Lotto Software and Books

See all Smart Luck lottery software and lotto books or the full lottery product guide and list of best lottery software and books for your state to use for Mega Millions. Also see the references on the right side of this page: products to use for Mega Millions, many articles for more info on understanding lottery strategy and the concepts of lotto wheeling, winner stories, links to our free wheels for Mega Millions, and more!

Frequently Asked Questions About Mega Millions

Gail Howard's Lottery Winning Systems & Strategies