Mega millions odds

Reply #4

Orange71 — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 16:00:09 GMT

It's very simple to calculate the number of combinations or probability of any possible outcome in Megamillions. Let X be the random outcome of the number of matching main balls on a ticket to the winning numbers (0 to 5) and Y be the random outcome of the number of matching Megaballs on a ticket to the winning Megaball. That is either 0 or 1 since there is only one Megaball selected.

Then,

and

In the P(X,Y) equation, the numerator is the number of possible combinations for... [ More ]

Reply #3

Stack47 — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 04:01:00 GMT

The total number of combinations in a 5/39 matrix is 70 X 69 X 68 X 67 X 66 divided by the factor of 5 equals 12,103,014. Because there are 25 mega numbers and one of those combos will match the Mega numbers, the odds against matching 5 numbers is 25 times 12,103,014 divided by 24.

Reply #2

cottoneyedjoe — Sun, 02 Apr 2023 23:29:16 GMT

In the current format of Mega Millions, there are only 24 tickets that can match all 5 white balls and miss the gold ball. Since there are 302575350 total tickets, the exact odds are calculated by 302575350/24 = 12607306.25 (and rounded to 12607306 for the published odds).

Reply #1

ScoobyDue — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 22:32:24 GMT

Now that I think about it, I'm guessing it has something to do with the 24 losing bonus balls

but I'm still not sure how they come up with an additional 500,000 combinations

Mega millions odds

ScoobyDue — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 21:38:40 GMT

This might be a silly question but Mega millions has published odds of 12,607,306 without the bonus ball

I keep coming up with 12,103,014

What am I missing