No, you can't buy enough Mega Millions tickets to guarantee a win
What do you consider a good luck charm? Is it carrying a rabbit's foot in your pocket? The fuzzy lucky dice hanging from your car's rearview mirror? Maybe it's wearing a pair of really old socks you refuse to wash to avoid removing their "power".
Whatever your recipe for good luck is, you may want to have it ready for Friday night's drawing of the Mega Millions jackpot, currently sitting at an estimated
But winning won't come easy. And it requires a little more luck — and strategy — than your preferred talisman can offer.
Professor of Statistics at Rutgers University-
"Two tickets (for the same drawing) will double your winning chance, say from 1/303 million to 2/303 million because each ticket has the same chance of winning," Wang explained.
But playing one ticket for each new drawing has no impact on your overall chances.
"Each game is independent of all previous games; frequently playing does not change your odds. However, buying more tickets (per game) increases your chance of winning," said Wang.
So, could you buy your way to a billon-dollar payout?
Wang says no.
Even if you could afford to buy the 303 million tickets needed to cover every possible number combination, Wang says the logistics make it nearly impossible.
"Assume it takes one second to produce one ticket — 303 million will need 35,069 days which equals 5,009 weeks to complete the task. You can use 5,009 machines that works 24/7 to produce 303 million tickets," Wang said. "It is very unlikely to complete the purchasing 303 million tickets with different numbers. In order to make sure each number is different, you need to manually enter the number, which can slow down the purchase significantly. Then, more machines will be proportionally required."
Even if you could get all 303 million tickets purchased, you could still come out a loser if there's even one additional winner.
"There is the risk of splitting the prize. In terms of making money, it is not foolproof. In terms of winning, it is theoretically foolproof, but not a practical way," Wang said.
And lottery machines already are feeling the pressure of hopeful billionaires.
According the the Mega Millions website, unprecedented traffic after Tuesday's drawing caused www.megamillions.com to crash for more than two hours.
"Seeing the jackpot build over a period of months and reaching the billion-dollar mark is truly breathtaking. We encourage customers to keep play in balance and enjoy the ride. Someone is going to win," said
The estimated jackpot on
As for former winners, they don't stand any greater chance of cashing in on Friday night than you do.
"Because the winning number has no memory, the winning chance has nothing to do with the history of playing the game. By design, all the games are independent from each other. One's playing history won't alter one's chance of winning in this week," Wang said.
If you win the jackpot, the Mega Millions annuity is paid out as one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments. Each payment is 5% bigger than the one before.
The cash option is one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.
Of course, there's also taxes. A lump-sum winner will forfeit 24 percent — roughly
If you're still hoping to win, here's how to play:
Mega Millions tickets cost
You can also play the Mega Millions and other lotteries via the Jackpocket app.
The next Mega Millions drawing goes off at
If you do win the $1B Mega Millions, you’ll owe taxes
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