Mega Millions Drawing: These are the most common winning numbers in this lottery
Tonight, your life could change forever.
At 10 p.m., five Mega Millions lottery numbers will be picked. If you win, you could be $1.6 billion richer.
Yes, billion with a "b."
It's the world's largest-ever lottery jackpot. If the winner chooses the cash payout option, he or she walks away with $904 million.
How much could you buy with $1.6 billion?
Before you start spending the cash, let's talk about the odds.
You have a one in 302.5 million chance of winning, meaning there are 302.5 million number combinations. This may put things in perspective for you. There are 328 million people living in the United States.
"Every combination of numbers is just as likely to come out as any other," said Andrew Swift, a mathematician at University of Nebraska, Omaha. "Some people think that certain combinations of numbers are more likely than others. For example, some people say, well you shouldn't play one, two, three, four, five, six because that's never going to come out. But it's got just as much chance as any other combination."
Sure, the chances of winning are bleak.
Analysts have looked at the past 102 drawings and found the most common numbers drawn are 01, 02, 28, 70, 14, 17 and 42. The most common Mega Ball is 22 or 9. Both were drawn seven times.
The least common numbers drawn are 50, 63, 57, 36, 09. The number 50 has been chosen only twice. The least common Mega Ball is 05.
According to lottonumbers.com, the numbers that have gone longest without being drawn are:
36 - last picked 153 days ago
55 - last picked 146 days ago
58 - last picked 146 days ago
5 - last picked 132 days ago
37- last picked 129 days ago
50 - last picked 108 days ago
Mega Millions tickets are $2. We'll have tonight's winning numbers on Eyewitness News at 10. We'll also send a push alert through the ABC7Chicago mobile app as soon as the numbers are drawn.
Good luck!
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