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Need help beating the odds and picking the winning Mega Millions numbers?

March 30, 2012 | Posted By: Brent Shelton | Categorized in: Finance, Entertainment
Need help picking the winning Mega Millions numbers?

Our members are chatting in the FatWallet Off Topic forum and according to them, your chances of winning tonight's $640 million+ jackpot are a "1 in 175,000,000 chance. You could just buy 175 million tickets and triple your money" (said thumpergeek).

If you're like me, you'll take a blind guess, or perhaps pick numbers that are sentimental. But if your more of a tactical person and need more of a statitical edge, here's a couple of charts to help you factor in which numbers have been selected the most since 2005 (via Off Topic c/o zerohedge.com).





Common sense would say to stay away from #48 white ball (or not?) and the #36 MegaBall (uncanny!).



Good Luck!


You can find and tweeting about suds and other substance @brentsheltonnow.
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Comments
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: 5SpdSolara
I'm withdrawing $175 million after lunch and will make a quick trip to the gas station to pick up my tickets.
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: sideburns
If you end up spending $175M to buy every combination and someone else shares the win, you'll lose about $30M. Not a great investment. Also, the odds stay the same no matter what. Seeing the frequency is about as helpful here as it is on the roulette wheels in the casino. It's a sucker's bet to bet on previous spins.
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: andycandy1122
you need to buy more than 175million tickets...
56*56*56*56*56*46=25,333,661,696
....
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: GodofGambler1978
Roulette is fixed in casino. You will begin to see random when you keep double bet when you lose.
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: xkxrome0ox
andycandy - it's 56*55*54* etc. etc. because the number that's been drawn already is no longer in the pool of numbers. i'm pretty sure that's why the odds are already calculated for you as 1 in 176millionsomething

and it's is pretty near impossible to physically buy every single combination of numbers. you'd need a very organized group that can purchase the actual tickets spread out to save time... and hope that no machine malfunctions
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: wjung81
andycandy is right...whoever thought that 175 million tickets would cover all possibilities...ya'll need to go back to school.
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: xprins
The answer is 16895340 different combinations. 56 C 4 * 46 C 1
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: xprins
Sorry, it is actually 175711536. 56 C 5 * 46 C 1
I thought there were 4 balls and not 5 in the first pool...
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: xprins
Sorry, it is actually 175711536. 56 C 5 * 46 C 1
I thought there were 4 balls and not 5 in the first pool...
March 30, 2012 | Posted By: magentalike1979
Thanks I won 7 bucks!
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