BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Can you increase your odds of winning the $1.6B Powerball jackpot?

In this photo from Jan. 12, 2021, blank forms for the Powerball lottery sit in a bin at a local grocery store, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

ovp test

mLife Diagnostics LLC: Oral Fluid Drug Testing

Male shot by female at Shreveport apartment

Class to create biodiverse backyard

Rules for outbursts at Caddo School Board Meeting

Mortgage Calculator

This calculator helps you estimate your monthly mortgage payment. It adds up the loan payment (principal + interest), property tax, and insurance. The loan payment is spread out over the years of your loan term.

This is the total amount you're borrowing from the bank.
This is the yearly interest rate on your loan.
This is how long you'll take to repay the loan.
This is the yearly tax you pay on your property.
This is the yearly cost to insure your home.

Monthly Payment Breakdown

Principal and Interest: $

Property Tax: $

Homeowners Insurance: $

Total Estimated Monthly Payment: $

(NEXSTAR) – Yet another Powerball drawing has yielded no big winner, sending the jackpot to a record estimated amount of $1.6 billion ahead of Saturday’s drawing. The prize is only expected to grow before then as more and more Powerball players buy tickets.

You may be wondering if there’s a way to rise above the rest and snag that jackpot. Is it all luck of the draw, or can you really sway the odds of claiming the largest Powerball jackpot in history?

According to Powerball, your odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. You have a greater chance of getting struck by lightning — less than 1 in a million, according to the CDC — than getting all six numbers right in a Powerball drawing.

Still, research has shown that there may be some numbers that have been drawn more frequently than others. Lotto Numbers, a site that tracks Powerball statistics over time, did some digging: According to their research, the numbers 61, 32, 63, 21, and 69 are the five most frequently drawn numbers over the last seven years, though none of these numbers have been pulled in the last five Powerball drawings.

Because six numbers are drawn — five white balls and a red Powerball — you may be focused on landing the right combination. All combinations have the same chance of winning, though, according to Rong Chen, Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Statistics in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. That means the exact combination of numbers pulled on Wednesday has the same chance of being drawn again on Saturday.

You can, however, select a combination of numbers that others will be less likely to choose. Chen suggests numbers larger than 31 (to avoid matching with anyone playing their birthday) or those found on the edges or corners of the ticket form. These strategies can help you avoid sharing a prize, Chen explains, but your chances of winning will still be the same.

There are other methods lottery players use to try to increase their chances of winning, like lottery wheeling — selecting a group of numbers and playing every combination or permutation of those numbers — or selecting numbers that have or haven’t been picked recently. Some also try the Delta Lotto System, which uses a bit of math to reduce the number of digits you’ll pick from, though many note it doesn’t take probability into account.

But, as Chen explains in this Rutgers blog post, there are no numbers or combinations of numbers that give you a better chance at the Powerball jackpot.

You can always increase your chances by simply buying more tickets. As Springfield College Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Andrew Perry explained to Nexstar’s WWLP, buying 100 tickets would cut your odds to about 1 in 2.92 million instead of 1 in 292.2 million.

With one ticket or 100, your chances at the jackpot are still pretty slim. But if you’re not focused on the jackpot, you may have a relatively decent chance of winning at least some sort of monetary prize. According to Powerball, the odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. There are nine ways to win a Powerball prize, the smallest being $4 — enough to cover the ticket you purchased and maybe buy another one.

Regardless of your odds (which are the same as everyone else’s), it’s important to play responsibly.

“However you play, there’s a high probability of losing all your money. I would advise people not to risk money that they can’t afford to lose,” Perry said.

Powerball is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 per play, and drawings occur every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET.

Your Money

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Fair

la

55°F Fair Feels like 55°
Wind
0 mph NNE
Humidity
46%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable.
49°F Clear this evening then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
4 mph NE
Precip
1%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Crescent