Mega Millions Lottery Tips

Updated

Mega Millions Stats

  • Odds: 1 in 302,575,350
  • Mega Millions Jackpot:
    Minimum $40 million
  • Pick Size: Pick-5 + Pick-1 Powerball type
  • How to Play Mega Millions:
    Choose 5 numbers 1-70 and 1 number 1-25
  • Where to Play Mega Millions:
    45 States, DC, and U.S. Virgin Islands
  • Drawings: Tuesdays and Fridays
  • Price: $2
  • How to Win Mega Millions: Match all 5 winning numbers and the Mega ball number
  • Official Website: Mega Millions Lottery
  • Advantage Gold History File: MM0570.slh

About Mega Millions

Mega Millions is a popular multi-state lottery which currently has a 5/70+1/25 number format, since October 31, 2017. Like Powerball, this is a big jackpot game that must have bad odds of winning in order to create lotto prizes in the hundreds of millions to close to a billion dollars range.

History of Mega Millions

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.

Game Start Date Number Format Mega Ball Jackpot odds
Big Game 09/06/1996 5/50 1/25 1:52,969,000
Big Game 01/13/1999 5/50 1/36 1:76,275,360
Mega Millions 05/15/2002 5/52 1/52 1:135,145,920
Mega Millions 06/22/2005 5/56 1/46 1:175,711,536
Mega Millions 10/19/2013 5/75 1/15 1:258,890,850
Mega Millions 10/28/2017 (current) 5/70 1/25 1:302,575,350

Learn More About the Mega Millions Game

What are your chances of winning the Mega Millions? The odds of winning all those hundreds of millions are one in 302,575,350 (most recently up from 1:258,890,850). When you realize that the entire population of the United States is over 323 million and the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are one in 303 million, 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 $1,000,000 are one in 12.6 million — which is about the same as the first prize jackpot odds of a 6/48 game. So, the ROB (Return On Bet) is very poor for the other prize categories as well. Your overall chances of winning any prize are 1 in 24. But, this is still a very popular game due to the draw of very high jackpots.

To play Mega Millions, a lotto player chooses five numbers (White Balls) from 70 numbers, and then selects one Gold MEGA Ball number from 1 to 25. Each game play on a ticket now costs $2, just like its biggest competition, Powerball. Drawings are held twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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.

Mega Millions players in some states have an extra ticket option called "Just the Jackpot." For $3 players will get two chances instead of one to win the top prize. The catch is that the player is ineligible to win any of the many smaller prizes.

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, 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, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

Mega Millions Lottery Winner uses Gail Howard's systems and strategies to win.

The Mega Millions jackpot now starts at $40 million, 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 increase by a minimum of $5 million each time there is no winner. Jackpots in the hundreds of millions of dollars range are not uncommon for Mega Millions and will likely become larger more frequently with these new game changes.

Mega Millions currently holds the world record for both the largest jackpot ($1.6 BILLION on 10/23/18) and the largest lottery prize won by a single ticket. Powerball had the previous record with its $1.5 Billion jackpot.

In addition to the lotto jackpot, there are eight other ways to win Mega Millions in prize categories from $2 (Mega Ball only) to $1,000,000 (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 5/70 numbers to win prizes without the Mega Ball.

Mega Millions Jackpot records:

RankAmountDateWinning TicketsStates of Winners
1 $1.6 BILLION October 23, 2018 1 South Carolina
2 $656 million 03/30/2012 3 Kansas, Illinois, Maryland
3 $648 million 12/17/2013 2 California, Georgia
4 $543 million 07/24/2018 1 California
5 $536 million 07/08/2016 1 Indiana
6 $533 million 03/30/2018 1 New Jersey
7 $451 million 01/05/2018 1 Florida
8 $414 million 03/18/2014 2 Florida, Maryland
9 $393 million 08/11/2017 1 Illinois
10 $390 million 03/06/2007 2 Georgia, New Jersey

Frequently Asked Questions About Mega Millions

Q: Do you win anything for picking the mega ball number alone in Mega Millions?
  A: Yes, getting just the gold mega ball as a winner on your ticket will win you a prize of $1, even if you do not have any of the main set of 5 white Mega Millions numbers.
Q: Is 2 numbers worth anything in Mega Millions?
  A: You can get a prize for matching 1 white ball with the gold mega ball, but not for matching just 2 white balls alone. The smallest prize without the mega ball is for 3 white balls.
Q: Did anyone win the MegaMillions jackpot? Who won the Mega Millions drawing?
  A: To find out if someone won the Mega Millions game for last night's drawing or the most recent game result, go to the Mega Millions Winning Numbers page, and it lists the number of jackpot winners under the drawing. Most Mega Millions winner names are not released, but if one is, it would be listed on the Mega Millions website. View one of Gail Howard's winner stories: Cynthia C won 2nd prize in Mega Millions, all 5 winning numbers without the Mega Ball.
Q: How many numbers are in Mega Millions?
  A: Mega Millions has a number field of 70 numbers with the Mega Ball being drawn from a separate pool of 25 numbers. You pick five numbers out of seventy and one number out of twenty-five to win Mega Millions.

About Mega Millions Lottery Strategy

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

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 200 different lotto games worldwide, with histories going back as far as 1955, we have verified the following incredibly simple rule:

That which is MOST POSSIBLE happens MOST OFTEN.
That which is LEAST POSSIBLE happens LEAST OFTEN.

The key to Smart Luck's successful lotto number selection methods is playing the probabilities. If you play a lotto ticket 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

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8 Easy Lotto Number Tips
to Help You Win Mega Millions

1

ODD-EVEN LOTTO NUMBER TIPS

PLAY: mix of 3 odd/2 even or 2 odd/3 even numbers

When you select your Mega Millions best playing numbers, pick a fairly even mix of odd and even numbers. All odd numbers or all even numbers are rarely drawn, occurring less than 3% 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.

Advantage Gold: use Chart I to see the current bias for odd/even numbers.

2

HIGH-LOW LOTTO NUMBER TIPS

PLAY: mix of 3 high/2 low or 2 high/3 low numbers

Winning numbers are usually spread across the entire number field. If we split a number field in half, we have the low half and the high half. In a 70-number game like Mega Millions, numbers 1 to 35 would be in the low half, and numbers 36 to 70 would be in the high half. All high numbers or all low numbers are rarely drawn, occurring only 3% 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.

Advantage Gold: use Chart H to play more high or low numbers based on the current trend.

3

LOTTERY NUMBER GROUP STRATEGIES

PLAY: numbers from groups that have been very cold and are just becoming active

Look at a list of past Mega Millions winning combos, and you'll see that there can't be every number group represented. Many times, more than the minimum 3 of the number groups are not represented. For example, in the combination 5-8-32-43-66, there are no 10's, 20's, 50's, or 70's.

Advantage Gold: use Chart E to track which group to omit and which to play more heavily.

4

LOTTERY GAMES SKIPPED STRATEGIES

PLAY: numbers with the most due games out value

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.)

Advantage Gold: use Chart B to quickly find games out information and which numbers are best to play.

5

LOTTO NUMBER SUM ADVICE - PLAY A BALANCED GAME®

PLAY: 5 numbers that add up to 141-240

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 132 and 223. Sums that fall within that range (the Most Probable Range of Sums) will account for over 70% of all lottery jackpots won.

Advantage Gold: use Chart F to see which sums occured most recently, most often, and more.

6

REPEAT HITS LOTTERY TIPS

PLAY: no more than one number from the last drawing

In the 5/70 MEGA Millions, on average, one or more lottery numbers will be a repeat hit from the last drawing only about 33% of the time. 2 or more numbers repeated occurs less than 4% of the time.

Advantage Gold: use Chart 5 to see which numbers are more likely to become repeat hits.

7

HOT NUMBER LOTTERY SECRETS

PLAY: more numbers that have hit in the past 10 drawings.

Numbers that have been out (losers) for six games or less account for many of the winning numbers. 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.

Advantage Gold: use Chart 4 to track the trends and find the hot numbers.

8

COLD NUMBER LOTTERY SECRETS

PLAY: numbers that are already showing signs of becoming more active.

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.

Advantage Gold: use Chart 4A to see at a glance which numbers are picking up more activity.

8 Simple Things to Avoid
So You Save Money When Playing Lotto

Lotto players who select their lottery numbers thoughtlessly or foolishly are destined to lose even before the drawing takes place. By knowing which number combinations and patterns to avoid, you'll have an advantage over such players—and save money, too.

1

REPEATED NUMBER COMBINATIONS

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. 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 2,909,378 years!!! This should also answer the question we are often asked, "Shouldn't I keep playing the same set of numbers every week because they are due to hit sometime?"

Advantage Gold: use Chart X to test drive your set of numbers against past history to see if it was already a winner.

2

CONSECUTIVE NUMBERS

AVOID: too many consecutive lotto numbers in a combination.

Even four consecutive numbers is a very rare occurrence that, in most Lotto games, has never happened once.

Advantage Gold: use Chart A to see which numbers have hit as neighboring (consecutive) pairs, triads, or more.

3

SAME NUMBER GROUP

AVOID: playing too many numbers from the same 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.

Advantage Gold: use Chart E to see more information about group trends.

4

1-2-3-4-5

AVOID: playing the combination 1-2-3-4-5 or other popular sets of numbers.

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, and even if it did, the prize would be very low due to sharing with so many other winners.

5

PATTERN BETTING

AVOID: playing a combination based on how the marked numbers look on your ticket

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.

6

NUMBER MULTIPLES

AVOID: playing too many numbers that are all multiples of the same number

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.

7

SAME LAST DIGITS

AVOID: playing too many numbers that end with the same digit

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. It is unlikely that even 4 same last digits will hit together.

Advantage Gold: use Chart G to see how many times a last digit has occured and what the recent trends are.

8

LOW NUMBER COMBINATIONS

AVOID: playing ages and dates that are all low numbers

Most lotto players pick the calendar numbers, such as birth dates, anniversaries, and their children's ages. The most heavily played numbers are 1-31. Mega Millions has 70 numbers. If you play only the calendar numbers, you are missing out on more than half the number field, and your tickets will be very unbalanced. Play your personal numbers if you feel these lucky numbers are good to play, but include a few high numbers so that you win a prize that's worth something (not shared with many other winners) if your numbers hit.


In Lotto, the Trend is Your Friend

Strategy: The shortest, easiest way to search for lotto numbers that have the greatest probability of winning is to track the trends. Smart Luck strategies show you how to understand and use historical data.

Wheeling: After you use number selection strategies to choose a group of numbers that are best to play, the best way to win more prizes is to use a wheeling system to group the numbers into sets of tickets to buy. Our Balanced Wheels have minimum win guarantees!

Lottery Strategy Software to help you win Mega Millions

Advantage Gold

Advantage Gold software makes all the charts for this game, to automate the process of choosing the best numbers to play. In just seconds, you can get updated charts customized for your game's lotto history. No need to worry about formulas; it's easy to use because all the math is done for you!

Advantage Gold works with Wheel Five Gold, so you can let the program select Smart Pick numbers and enter them into your wheel for the fastest way to play!

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Lotto Wheeling Systems to help you win Mega Millions

Wheel Five Gold

For Mega Millions, your best option are pick-5 Balanced Wheels® like those in Wheel Five Gold. Treat the five mega million white balls as you would any pick-5 game. Do not wheel the Gold MEGA Ball - it comes from a separate number pool and should be chosen separately.

For the best way to win Mega Millions, wheel less than about 40 of the 70 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.

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How to Get Lucky at Mega Millions

Lotto Pool Winners

POOL YOUR WAY TO LOTTO RICHES

Several of the 109 Lotto jackpots won with Smart Luck 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.

Draw up an agreement and have the members of your pool sign it. And be sure to play with people you actually know. Don't fall for scams online!

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 prizes with the right strategies and attitude.

Positive Attitudes are for Winners!

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Percentages and other statistics listed on this page should be considered estimates. They were generated with Advantage Gold software, but every new drawing can alter values slightly, so this page may be outdated from the exact current values. View all of the statistics shown here and many more with Advantage Gold for the most current results for this game and hundreds of others!
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