Mega Millions Numbers

Winning the lottery – any lottery in the world involves doing one thing correctly; choosing the winning numbers. Depending on what game you are playing in the world, you will choose a different amount of lucky numbers. You may be only picking a few, but the possibilities are endless, making it extremely difficult to win the lottery jackpot.

The Mega Millions game in the USA for example, has a generous prize and is played over twelve states; New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and California. Other states have their own types of lottery games. Now, the Mega Millions Lottery has jackpots starting at $12 million dollars, making the prizes always generous and like other lotteries, the prizes rollover week to week if there are no jackpot winners.

As of 2008 the player picks five numbers from 1 to 56 and then picks one lucky number ball, called the Mega Ball number which is gold and varies from 1-46. This number is drawn from a separate machine to the main 5 numbers. Although there are fewer balls to choose from overall than the UK Lottery where you have 6 main balls and a bonus ball, the Mega Lottery has a wider range of numbers, therefore making it hard to win from. The UK Lotto has numbers from 1-44 in its main selection whereas the Mega Millions goes up to 56. The number combinations also increase with this.

The jackpot, won by matching the normal balls of 1 – 56 and mega ball of 1- 46, has a 1 in 175’711’536 chance of winning – however the lower level prizes are easier to win. You can win a $2 prize just for matching one Mega Ball number (chances are 1 in 75) thus covering the cost of your ticket. If you match one main ball and the mega ball number you get $3 (1 in 141 chances). Therefore it is not impossible at all to take home some kind of prize – many other lotteries won’t go below matching three numbers for a prize.

When choosing Mega Millions Lottery numbers, think about patterns and shapes – think about whether you want completely random numbers or something that is familiar. Many people choose their numbers from birthdays and anniversaries for example – but remember that since most of these are dates, they won’t run past number 31. Since Mega Millions runs up to 56, you will miss out the numbers from 32-56, thus reducing your chances of winning a prize. For this reason, and this applies to any lottery you play, always remember to include the higher end numbers too. Many jackpots that are rolled over are done so because the numbers drawn are high numbers and appear in a cluster and people tend to choose around the middle or low end of the number scale. Choosing common numbers is also not a bad idea in games where you get prizes for matching even one number – it means the chances of winning a prize is higher.