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This $1.3 billion jackpot is the 4th largest Powerball jackpot in history and it was claimed in Oregon. The prize is also the eighth largest ever of all U.S. jackpot games.

The winning ticket was sold by the Plaid Pantry situated at 6060 NE Columbia Blvd. in Portland.

Those are the facts of the win. But what can we learn from this?

How Many Winners

There was just one winning ticket for the entire $1.3 billion jackpot.

This is an important reminder of just how hard this game is to win. You have to match the 5 main balls plus the Powerball to win. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.

That mind boggling number is more than 1 in 292 million. That’s almost the entire population of the U.S. (the U.S. population was 331,449,281 at the last census on April 1 2020). Which means you would need everyone in the country to buy a ticket, each with a different combination, just to guarantee that 1 person wins.

How Many Rollovers..!

As you probably know, the Powerball jackpot builds. It starts at around $20 million. Then every time it’s not won, it ‘rolls over’ to the next draw. This keeps going until somebody wins.

The last time Powerball was won was on January 1 2024. That means the jackpot rolled over 40 times before anybody won again.

Again, that’s how hard this game is to win. In all of 2023 it was only won 5 times. And bear in mind this is now with 3 draws per week, after Powerball added the Monday draw in 2021.

How Lucky Is Plaid Pantry?

Plaid Pantry will be super happy for the winner of course.

But the owners will be pretty happy for themselves too. Because Plaid Pantry get a $100,000 bonus for selling this winning Powerball ticket.

It’s also not their first rodeo. Plaid Pantry have sold other large Oregon jackpot prizes. They sold a $3.3 million Megabucks ticket last Summer.

Ever seen a ‘big winner sold here’ poster in the store window? There’s a good reason ‘lucky stores‘ do this.

So What Do I Think?

The mega jackpot games, like Powerball, are extremely hard to win.

The two things go hand in hand. To achieve those mega jackpots they need a lot of rollovers. To get lots of rollovers they need to make the odds of winning really bad. Otherwise people would win every draw!

So my question to you would be – why do you want to want to win $1.3 billion? Would you not be super happy with winning e.g. ‘just’ $10 million?

If NOT then keep playing Powerball and Mega Millions.

But if a more sensible jackpot would be perfectly fine with you. Then look again at the games available to you. Look more closely at those odds. The difference is usually 20, 50, even 100 times better.

Don’t fall into the ‘mega jackpot trap’ just because the news headlines are full of ‘billions’.

The post What We Can Learn From Billion Dollar Jackpots appeared first on Lottery-Guy.com.

What am I talking about? I asked you guys on my email list to send in your questions. But not just any old questions – those ones you were maybe a bit shy to ask. Because they ‘seem’ a bit stupid or obvious. But the chances are lots of other people are thinking the same thing. So I thought it would be good to share with everyone. The names shall remain anonymous of course, we don’t want anyone to actually feel stupid, right?

If you missed them you can find the first batch of “stupid” questions here.

The winning lottery numbers are always different to the numbers I have – help?

You see the problem here is that you’re just picking the wrong numbers…

OK, I’m guessing you want a more useful answer than that?

First, let’s deal with the unpleasant truth that most people don’t want to hear. There is no magic system to ‘beat the lottery’. It does not exist. And it never will (but we’ll get to what you can do in a second).

Think about it this way: if there was genuinely some miracle system that could pluck jackpots out of the air, what would happen to lottery games?

They would be over. Done. Finished.

What would be the point of playing a lottery game anymore? Everybody buys the magic system. Then every draw everybody wins and shares the jackpot. And all get paid out less than the cost of their tickets because there are so many winners..!

Nobody would bother playing anymore, all the games close down and the lottery companies go out of business. Of course it can never happen, but it doesn’t stop unscrupulous people selling systems that claim to do exactly this.

So what can you do? Play wisely, use good strategy and improve your chances to be the best they can be. That puts you ahead of the vast majority of players (who actually play without any strategy or idea at all). How do you this? Join the Strategy Group and rethink how you approach playing. Learn what does work, and what doesn’t. To maximise your chances of winning instead. It’s far more satisfying than chasing rainbows.

There are lottery locations that are considered “lucky”, would my chances improve if I play at these locations?

No, not at all.

I talk about this more in best places to buy winning lottery tickets. But the short version is that ‘lucky stores’ are all about marketing. The lottery companies never claim your chances are better at a ‘lucky store’. The ‘lucky’ retailers never claim your chances are better either. Because they both know that’s not the case.

But it certainly doesn’t stop them putting up big posters (“Division 1 sold here”) or trophies on the counter. It’s all cleverly ‘suggestive’ and plays on our superstitions.

But it doesn’t matter in the slightest where you buy your tickets. It matters a lot what you buy.

When I win millions in the lottery, will I receive a certified check in the mail, or will they perform a direct deposit into my checking account?

It really depends on the lottery company, as the rules vary by state and country. Some will give you the choice of either a check or direct deposit to your bank account. Others will only deposit to your bank.

All lotteries do however have a claims team. With specialists who are used to dealing with big winners. Their advice is valuable, along with advice from your own fully independent advisors.

Also depending on the lottery company you might be required to take part in publicity. Such as attending a press conference to be photographed being handed one of those giant cardboard checks. I recommend you decline all publicity wherever possible (these US states allow anonymous lottery winners). It’s easy to get carried away in the excitement, but ‘going public’ won’t do you any good at all personally.

Also see: How long does it take to get lottery winnings?

Can I claim lottery winnings as a company (in Indiana)?

Presumably you’re asking because it may allow you to remain anonymous? Or possibly help with taxes? Either way that one’s beyond my area of expertise.

But it’s a useful question anyway because it does highlight the value of getting professional advice from specialist lawyers and tax experts. Before you make a claim.

Just in terms of anonymity it’s complicated. In the US some states do allow an LLC (Limited Liability Company) to claim. But then some states require an LLC to publicly list their members names anyway, meaning there is no anonymity as anyone can then look up the names!

My advice is to get proper legal advice from a lawyer specialising in lottery winners claims before you make a jackpot claim.

Or just move to a country where winners can remain anonymous and lottery prizes don’t get taxed.

If I get a winning scratch ticket (not the top prize) from a seller, should I stop buying that particular ticket from the same seller and go to a different seller?

No. Because it doesn’t mean that the next ticket in the roll can’t be a winner. It could even be a jackpot ticket! Not even the lottery company know which rolls contain the major prize winners.

Winning scratch tickets are generally placed in the rolls in a random manner. I say ‘generally’ here because the ticket printing companies have industry standard methods (algorithms) to determine winning and losing tickets for the entire print run. It can’t be completely random as they have to print the right number of tickets, and ensure there are the right number of each prize level in there. These numbers are determined by the game rules and have to be adhered to (or it wouldn’t be fair!).

Get my how to win scratch offs tips for ways to maximise your chances of winning on the scratchers.

It’s not particularly helpful to get into detail as it overcomplicates things. But what the algorithms generally aim to do is avoid printing ‘too many’ winning or losing tickets in a row. And to avoid printing all the jackpot tickets in one ticket roll! So they will tend to be spread out over the whole print run. Remember: whilst we do want to win, we don’t actually want the lottery company to go bust!

The algorithm may even ensure there are a minimum number of winners per roll, so it can help to buy scratch-off tickets in bulk. It will never ‘guarantee’ a profit of course. And the algorithms do vary and are not made public, so it’s not possible to know for certain.

You can try asking your lottery company specifically how winning tickets are placed in the rolls – let me know what they say?

The post “Stupid” Lottery Questions Answered [Part 2] appeared first on Lottery-Guy.com.

This was in honor of ‘Ask A Stupid Question Day’ which originates from a bunch of teachers in the 1980’s. Students were scared to ask questions in fear of sounding stupid. So to encourage better learning, the teachers introduced stupid question day.

Because there are no stupid questions, right? Questions are how we learn stuff. And make sure we’ve understood.

So let’s get stuck in – here’s the first of those ‘stupid’ questions, with answers (obviously!):-

Would winning the lottery be fun?

It’s actually a great question. Because winning is not the same for everyone. If you play the wrong games (e.g. Pick 3 is nearly always a bad choice…) then winning can be nice, but only fun for about 5 minutes before the winnings are all spent!

Or if you’re just ‘bad with money’ even a significant win can turn into one of those ‘lottery winners loses it all’ stories we’ve all seen in the news.

But of course for most winners, yes, absolutely it’s fun. Because winning simply means freedom. Buying ‘expensive stuff’ is only a small part of it. The real fun comes from the freedom to spend your time doing what you want.

Some people travel, some do charity work, paint, take up motor racing… But some keep their day job because they enjoy it. The choice is yours.

Are any particular days of the week better for buying lottery tickets?

Another great question (you guys are good!). The day, or time of day, you buy a ticket doesn’t make any difference to your chances of winning. All that matters is beating the deadline for when ticket sales close (usually a few hours before the draw, not minutes!).

Draw days will mean longer queues at the counter. Saturday in particular, because it’s the weekend (obviously) and because more people play Saturday draws than mid-week draws. So you can save yourself some queueing time by buying tickets on less popular days. That stuff adds up.

How come there are hot and cold numbers?

This is an interesting one, because it misleads a lot of people.

Quick recap: hot lottery numbers are numbers that have been drawn more often. Cold lottery numbers are numbers that have been drawn less often. Simple. The complicated bit is ‘does this mean anything’.

They ‘exist’ because, well, that’s what happens when you randomly generate anything. If you roll a dice the numbers don’t take it in turns. Sometimes you get two or even three 6’s in a row. Sometimes you don’t. Over time it will tend to average out, but it’s the randomness that makes it vary like this.

Some people believe that a cold number means it’s now somehow ‘due’. Because of this ‘averaging out’ effect. But it doesn’t really work that way.

Think of it like this: if you haven’t got a 6 on your dice for ten rolls in a row, does that now mean 6 is more likely to come up? It may seem like it should – but why would it? There are still six sides on the dice, so what has physically changed about this dice to make 6 become ‘due’ or more likely?

It’s actually still just as likely as all the other numbers, so it may come up, or not. What happens next does not depend on what happened before.

The same thing goes for the lottery balls.

(Note: this all assumes a perfectly random dice or lottery draw, so there is also a much longer answer to this which can give you some useful lottery strategies, but it’s way too much to get into here)

Everyone wants to know how to win lotto. I just want to ask, how do you not lose on lotto?

What a question, love it.

For me, the key here is what you define as losing. Here’s a quick stupid question of my own… Do you enjoy playing the lottery? I think it’s pretty safe to say most people do, right? Or you wouldn’t play.

Playing the lottery is a hobby or interest that we all share. It’s fun, it’s entertaining. It can also be really exciting. Particularly if you make the most of it – watch the live draw with your family or friends, all marking off your numbers as the balls come out…

Where else can you get entertainment that cheaply? How then can you ever really lose at playing the lottery.

Have the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, bonus number 6 ever been picked?

Not yet.

One day it will get drawn somewhere though. And when 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 do win the lottery three things will happen:-

1. There will be uproar as people cry ‘fix’, ‘con’, ‘told you it was rigged’ etc etc.
2. The news will explode with stories of the ‘impossible’ lottery result.
3. Thousands of people will share the jackpot and get paid out a tiny win each (why? read on).

A similar thing happened when consecutive numbers won the lottery (already happened). And when the same lottery numbers won twice. Then there was the Bulgarian lottery same numbers affair.

The result 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 is of course unlikely to get drawn. But here’s the thing – every other result is also unlikely too. The only difference is that we just can’t help seeing a nice ordered pattern in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. But these are just balls in a machine, they’re not really ‘numbers’ at all.

The super crazy thing is, that a ton of people actually play those numbers. Presumably for some kind of proving a point or aren’t I clever reason. But in a typical 6/49 draw quite literally thousands of people play those numbers. And what happens when they come up? The jackpot will be shared between all of those people – meaning a lousy couple of thousand each instead of millions! Don’t do it folks.

Do the lottery companies change the balls often, so that the balls are kept even more random by increasing the variables?

Potentially, yes. There are 91 countries across the world that run a lottery – some of which also have different companies for each state/province. So rules do vary a lot.

Some companies have multiple active sets of balls and even draw machines. The UK Lottery for example have a schedule of which machine and ball set will be used for each draw. For transparency they even tell you in the results which was used (e.g. “Draw machine: Merlin, Ball set: 2”).

Other companies may not be so transparent, so I recommend asking them. And push them for a proper answer.

Those sneaky lottery companies, they just don’t want you to win.

You can now read “Stupid” Lottery Questions Answered [Part 2]

The post “Stupid” Lottery Questions Answered [Part 1] appeared first on Lottery-Guy.com.

But you probably want me to get a bit more specific with this.

The thing is it really depends on what you mean by ‘win’. And if your idea of ‘the lottery’ is any lottery anywhere in the world OR a specific game.

So let’s break it down a bit.

How Many People Win the Lottery Each Year

Normally when we refer to winning we’re really talking about the jackpot.

But of course there are a whole bunch of smaller prizes to be won too. Right down to free tickets and prizes of $1 and $2. Is that winning? Technically, yes (but obviously, m’eh!).

If we look at Mega Millions for example. They typically pay out over 500,000 prizes every single draw. Again, that’s actual ‘wins’, not dollars. Every draw. Twice a week.

About half of these wins are for just $2, the cost of a ticket. And 99.99% of these 500,000+ prizes are for $500 or less.

Mega Millions is incredibly hard to win the jackpot. The odds are amongst the toughest of any lottery game. But each draw usually 1 player manages to hit the 2nd tier prize by matching the 5 main balls. That pays out a $1 Million prize. And most of us would consider that to be ‘winning the lottery’.

So even though the Mega Millions jackpot itself is only won a few times a year, there are about 100 winners every year of $1 Million.

That’s just one game.

Just in the USA.

There are 91 countries in the world that have a lottery.

All of those countries have at least one game that pays out a major prize. Some have more than one. Some, like the USA, Canada and Australia, have different lottery companies for different states and regions. And multiple games per state.

So if you multiply all that out, you can quickly reach a figure of 1,000-2,000 people winning a major prize on the lottery a year.

And we haven’t even mentioned scratchers yet.

You can easily double or triple that figure if we include major prize winners on scratch off tickets. Every year.

So next time a friend says to you “why play the lottery, nobody ever wins” – feel free to correct them.

How Often Does Someone Win the Lottery?

This is a similar question. But again, it depends exactly what we mean.

Somebody, somewhere wins the lottery every single day.

Because somewhere in the world there is a lottery being drawn today. Every day.

This tends to apply more to the ‘Pick 3’ type games though where some of those run 7 days a week and even get drawn 3 times a day. But the prizes are very small and probably not what most people would really consider ‘winning’.

But consider our example above of Mega Millions. It’s a super tough game, but so many people play it that somebody tends to win the second tier $1 Million prize every draw. Which is ‘pretty often’ if you consider that to be winning it. Otherwise it’s only a few times a year.

So How Rare Is Winning a Lottery?

Winning a lottery is not rare at all, because somebody somewhere wins it every week.

But what you probably care about more is how rare is it to win a lottery yourself? And the answer to that depends on the choices you make and how you play. Your chances of winning are much better if you use good lottery strategies.

What Determines How Often Someone Wins?

Two things determine how often a lottery is won.

Firstly, the type of game and therefore the odds of that game. As we’ve already covered – somebody will win a game like Pick 3 every draw. But the prizes are tiny so we don’t really care that much (and that’s why you should avoid playing Pick 3).

Secondly, the number of people playing. The more people playing, the more combinations get picked. And the more combinations that are picked, the more likely that one of those combinations will be drawn (this is how are lottery numbers picked).

How Many People Have Won the Lottery?

It’s fascinating to think about how many lottery winners there have been in the world.

The lottery hasn’t really been around that long (see lottery games explained). The first one in the US started in 1934 – the UK didn’t get one until 1994!

But when we factor in all the games that are around now, plus all the scratch off tickets, this easily makes around 5,000 winners per year.

So a reasonable estimate of the total number of people who have won the lottery could easily be 200,000+.

And that’s a lot of sports cars.

The post How Many People Win the Lottery a Year? appeared first on Lottery-Guy.com.

In this video I explain what these 2 ways are, how numbers are selected and the differences between them.

(The text version is below the video if you prefer to read rather than watch)

Transcript of the How Are Lottery Numbers Picked Video

Today I wanted to talk to you about how winning lottery numbers get picked.

It varies from game to game, but there are two ways numbers are drawn.

Firstly we have the traditional ‘ball based’ draws.

These are still fairly common but are becoming rarer. Mainly because they are expensive to run.

Ball based draws require highly specialised machines. They may look pretty simple – but they have to be built to very precise standards. Then there’s the cost of maintaining and keeping it secure. And of course lottery companies rarely have just one machine!

Sometimes ball based draws are broadcast live on TV. But this is also changing, as more and more companies are just recording the draws and putting them on their websites. Or just publishing the results.

It’s a shame. As there is a lot more excitement in watching those balls appear live out of the draw machine.

Players also find it a lot easier to trust a draw they can see. It’s easy to understand exactly how a draw works when you can watch the balls being drawn out one by one.

The machines themselves vary in design, but all work in the same general way. The balls are loaded into tubes in numeric order. The machine is started up and a paddle or spinner starts to rotate. The balls are dropped into the main drum, and get bounced around and mixed up. Then one by one a ball is removed. It’s all done automatically without anyone touching the machine itself.

Interestingly you’ll notice that draw machines are also made using a lot of clear plastic. There’s a good reason for that. It’s so you can see everything that happens during a draw. The balls are always visible – they never disappear behind anything as they are drawn out.

This is all to help reassure you that everything is honest and transparent.

The second way numbers are picked is by using a computer based lottery draw machine.

These computer generated draws are becoming the more common way to manage lottery games. Mainly because it’s cheaper.

Computer draws do use a pretty standard PC.

But with some extra highly specialised hardware. This extra hardware is the Random Number Generator itself.

It may not look like much but it’s a very different beast to anything you have in your own computer.

The problem with computers is they aren’t very good at being random. So as any decent programmer will confirm, software based number generators aren’t really very random!

Which is a big problem if you’re planning to run a lottery.

This problem is solved by ‘quantum randomness’. So instead of relying on software estimates of being random, hardware based number generators do not rely on computer code to generate the randomness itself.

Instead, they rely on things like radioactive decay, or photons of light bouncing off mirrors. Or in other words, physical events that are easily as random as balls bouncing around in a drum, and probably a lot more so.

But computer draws are not as popular with players, particularly those that have grown up with ball based machines. Because you have to trust the programmers and electronics experts rather than what you can see with your own eyes.

It’s also very rare for a computer based draw to be broadcast live. Because there isn’t much to see. Somebody clicks a button and the numbers appear on the screen.

That’s all.

These computer draws may be recorded for security purposes. But again, it’s very rare for the draw process to be available to watch.

As a result, people tend to trust ball based draws more.

But in reality, there is so much security, checking, and auditing around both types of draw, you really can trust them both.

Unless…tin foil happens to be your favourite type of hat material.

That said, there have been occasions where BOTH types of draw have been cheated. But it takes someone at a high level of trust on the inside to even be able to attempt it. You can read more about those cases in the links below.

• The Iowa Lottery Eddie Tipton Lottery Hack
• Nick Perry Lottery Scandal

The post How Are Lottery Numbers Picked? [video] appeared first on Lottery-Guy.com.

Because nobody explains it properly!

So let’s change that with a proper explanation of how it works.

How Does Power Play Work?

Power Play is an extra option when you play Powerball. You cannot play it on its own.

It costs $1 extra for each play and applies to all plays (or combinations) on your playslip. So normally a Powerball play costs you $2, but with Power Play it costs you $3. This turns a ticket that cost $10 into a $15 ticket.

If you then win a prize on Powerball the Power Play option can boost the size of that prize. You cannot ‘win’ Power Play itself.

What Are the Powerball Power Play Numbers?

The Powerball Power Play numbers are 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10.

The amount your prize is boosted is determined by the Power Play number. This is randomly drawn by the lottery company just like the main lottery numbers. It can be X2, X3, X4, X5 or X10.

The ‘X’ simply means ‘multiply by’ – so if X5 is drawn then your prize (if you win) is multiplied by 5.

Does Power Play Apply to the Jackpot?

No, Power Play does not apply to the jackpot prize.

It also does NOT multiply the Match 5 prize by the Power Play number. The Match 5 prize is boosted from $1 Million to $2 Million if you have the Power Play option, but never more than that.

When Is the 10X Multiplier Used?

The 10X multiplier is only used when the jackpot is less than $150 Million. So if the jackpot is larger then 10X is not even included in the draw to select the Power Play number.

Because there are a lot of rollover draws for Powerball the jackpot isn’t below $150 Million a lot of the time. Based on the last year, the 10X multiplier hasn’t even been included (so cannot be drawn) for 53% of Powerball draws.

See also: How Is the Powerball Lump Sum Calculated?

What Are the Powerball Power Play Odds?

The odds are slightly different depending on whether the 10X multiplier is in use (which is only used when the jackpot is less than $150 Million).

For the Power Play draw itself 2X is included 24 times, 3X is included 13 times, 4X is included 3 times and 5X is only included once. If 10X is being used then that also only appears just once.

So these are the odds if the 10X multiplier is in use:-

If the 10X multiplier is NOT being used (because the jackpot is larger than $150 Million) then these are the odds:-

Is Powerball Power Play Worth It?

Is it worth playing Power Play on Powerball? In my opinion, no it isn’t. And here’s why.

Power Play only does anything if you win something. It does nothing to improve your chances of winning Powerball in the first place. Which is the most important thing.

Let’s use a specific example. If you normally play $20 on Powerball that gets you 10 plays. If you choose the Power Play option this will now cost you $30. But what if you put that extra $10 into buying 5 extra plays on Powerball instead? That right there would improve your chances of winning by 50%.

And that’s why I say don’t do Power Play. Your odds of winning are far more important than the chance of a boost to smaller prizes.

Because remember: Power Play does not boost all prizes. The jackpot doesn’t count, the Match 5 is only ever doubled. And even then it’s most likely your prize will only be doubled – 10X very rarely happens (half the time it’s not even used, and even when it is the odds of it then happening are only 1 in 43)!

These add-on options are great for lottery company profits, but they are rarely good for us players. Understanding options like this and when they are good or bad choices is just one way you can maximize your chances of winning (which is what my Strategy Group is all about).

More Power Play Questions

The post How Does Power Play Work in Powerball? appeared first on Lottery-Guy.com.

Will the lottery company refuse to pay out if you win too often..?

Let’s find out.

Can You Win the Lottery More Than Once?

Yes, you can win the lottery more than once. But what do we really mean by ‘win’..?

There is no rule (for any lottery I’ve ever come across) that says you cannot win multiple times. And this applies to all prize levels.

So you can win the jackpot more than once. Or any of the smaller prizes. As often as you like. The only thing stopping you is the odds of winning. And how often you remember to play.

Can You Win the Lottery Multiple Times in the Same Draw

Yes, you can win multiple times in the same draw.

One set of numbers (combination) cannot win more than one prize. So if you match 5 numbers you will only get the match 5 prize. You don’t also get the match 4 and match 3 prizes too.

But each combination you buy can win. So it is perfectly possible for one combination to win the jackpot and another different (but similar) combination in the same draw to win a match 5 prize.

It doesn’t matter if this is on the same ticket or different tickets.

In fact this does commonly happen with lottery wheeling systems due to the way they are designed.

Can You Win Twice on the Same Lottery Ticket?

Yes, you can win twice on the same ticket. But not more than once for each combination you buy.

So if you played 2 different combinations on the same ticket, both could win something. Don’t stop checking your numbers if you win something – always check all of the rows!

What Happens if You Buy Two Lottery Tickets With the Same Numbers?

If you buy two tickets with the same numbers then both sets of numbers are still entered into the draw. And both sets of numbers are still entitled to win.

This means you will be paid out two prizes, one for each ticket, if you win.

What Happens if You Have 2 Winning Lottery Tickets?

If you have two winning lottery tickets then both tickets claim a ‘share’ of the jackpot.

This is the same situation as when more than one person wins. The jackpot prize is then shared equally amongst the winners.

The difference is that you would get more shares of the jackpot.

If your two winning tickets are the only winners, then it makes no real difference. Because each ticket wins half of the jackpot, and you get to claim both halves!

However, if somebody else also wins, then you end up with more of the prize. So if 3 tickets won, and 2 of those were yours. Then you would now get two thirds of the jackpot and they would get one third.

Is Buying the Same Lottery Numbers Twice a Good Idea?

Buying the same numbers multiple times in the same draw is not really a good idea.

As Virginia Lottery spokesperson John Hagerty publicly stated:-

“It is possible to increase total winnings in a drawing by buying multiple tickets with the same numbers.”

But the drawback is of course that this gives less chance of actually winning than buying different sets of numbers!

As John confirmed: “Buying multiple tickets with the same numbers does not increase or decrease the chances of winning.”

Related Questions

The post How Many Times Can You Win the Lottery? appeared first on Lottery-Guy.com.

But what does it do, how does it work — and should you even bother with it?

Let’s get into it.

What Is the Megaplier?

The Megaplier is an extra feature in the Mega Millions lottery. It increases non-jackpot prizes by 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x. The size of the ‘multiplier’ is chosen randomly before the draw.

Adding the Megaplier costs $1 more per play. It can make your winnings much bigger, but it does not affect the jackpot.

How to Play Mega Millions Megaplier

You can only play the Megaplier as an extra option when you play Mega Millions.

To add it to your ticket, you simply check the Megaplier box on your playslip:-

As you can see to play Megaplier costs an extra $1 per play.

Normally each play on Mega Millions would be $2. If you add this option then it will cost you $3 for each play, not just $1 extra overall.

That means your $10 ticket will now cost you $15. Just so that’s clear.

So how do you play the Megaplier – just check the ‘Y’ box. There are no extra numbers or anything to pick.

How Much Do You Win if You Get the Megaplier?

You don’t win by getting the Megaplier itself. Instead the Megaplier multiplies the prize you win with your normal Mega Millions numbers.

For example, if you won a match 5 prize (that’s the 5 main numbers) then you would normally win $1 Million. If you also got the Megaplier option when you bought the ticket, then this amount is multiplied by the Megaplier amount. So if the Megaplier was ‘5X’ then you win 5 times the normal prize – or $5 Million instead of $1 Million in this example.

NOTE: The Megaplier only applies to the non-jackpot prizes. If you win the jackpot you only get the regular jackpot amount.

What Determines the Megaplier?

The Megaplier is randomly picked before the main draw. It is drawn from a set of 15 balls. Five of these are marked ‘2X’, six balls with ‘3X’, three balls with ‘4X’ and only one ball with ‘5X’.

So What Are the Megaplier Odds?

The odds of each Megaplier ball being drawn are simply:-

Where Is the Megaplier Number on the Ticket?

Your main Mega Millions ticket will simply say “MEGAPLIER – YES” (or “MEGAPLIER – NO”) to indicate that you chose to play this option.

It will not state a Megaplier number as you don’t have to match the number. So you won’t see e.g. ‘4X’ on your ticket. And there is no separate ticket for this option.

Is Megaplier Worth It?

If you win a non-jackpot prize then obviously you’re going to wish you had played the Megaplier.

But the important word here is the ‘if’. Because the Megaplier means nothing if your main numbers don’t win anything.

It’s also worth remembering that the Megaplier isn’t always ‘5X’. There is only a 1 in 15 chance that it is a 5X. It’s much more likely to be 2 or 3. Which would only turn your $10 match 3 prize into $20 or $30.

So is the Megaplier worth it? In my opinion, no, because maximizing your chances of winning is the better strategy. Which is something the Megaplier will not help with.

As an example, if you normally play 10 plays that would cost you $20. If you add the Megaplier that now costs $30. But for that $10 extra you could have played another 5 plays. And that could be the difference between winning a jackpot and winning nothing. The Megaplier does nothing to increase your chances of winning the jackpot.

More Megaplier Questions

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Where does that lottery prize money come from?

Let’s find out.

So How Does the Lottery Make Money

The lottery makes money every time you buy a ticket.

The breakdown varies a bit. But for every $1 you spend, about two thirds (67c) of that is used to pay out prizes. So a large percentage of the ticket price you pay covers the cost of all those prizes.

Here’s a rough breakdown of the lottery ticket price:-

This breakdown will vary for different lottery companies, but mostly follows this kind split (above is how the Pennsylvania Lottery split the ticket price). This is how lotteries get their money.

And yes, the lottery company themselves only take a very small percentage to run the games. It still adds up to a lot, because they are selling millions of tickets. But they really do only take 1-2c of each $1 you spend. That’s to cover all their operating costs.

How Much Money Does the Lottery Make a Year?

It depends if you mean profit or how much money they take in sales of tickets.

The New York Lottery for example makes around $9 billion per year from selling tickets. But the vast majority of that goes out again in prize money, about $5.2 billion (this is where the money comes from when you win the lottery). And another $3.2 billion goes straight to School Aid.

So the actual ‘profit’ the lottery makes is about $234 million (about 2.6%). Which isn’t really profit as such, as this is what pays for all of their operating and marketing costs.

How Do Lottery Retailers Make Money?

Lottery retailers make money from a commission on the tickets they sell. They may also be paid more in relation to their winning tickets cashed in. And can also earn bonuses when they sell a big winning ticket.

How do lottery retailers get paid?

It depends on which state they sell tickets for. North Carolina for example pays 7% commission on tickets sold to retailers, plus bonuses if the retailer sells a jackpot winner. Ohio pays 5.5% to stores on tickets sold, but up to 1.5% extra depending on winning tickets cashed in, plus bonuses for big winners.

How much does the seller of a winning lottery ticket get?

This depends on the lottery company, but the seller will typically get around 1% of the prize – but only for wins over $10,000. This is capped though so even big jackpot draw games usually only pay out $10,000 maximum to the retailer. But the big Mega Millions and Powerball games will net the retailer $50-$100,000 if they sell a jackpot winning ticket.

Remember this does not come out of your prize, this is already accounted for in the breakdown of the ticket price. Most lottery companies put aside 5%-8% of the ticket price for the sellers of winning tickets.

Related Questions

See Also

Have My Lottery Numbers Ever Won the Lottery?

Is It Better To Play Lottery Online or In-Store?

How Long Does It Take To Get Lottery Winnings?

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