MEGA Millions Tips

First MEGA Millions copies Powerball's game format, then tries to replace it as America's Favorite Lottery Game. In an effort to top the Powerball jackpots, the new MEGA Millions lottery has increased the jackpot odds by 40 percent—and added California to the mix.

As of June 24, 2005, the odds of winning all those hundreds of millions are one in 176 million (up from 135 million). When you realize that the entire population of the United States—including babies and children — is 293,655,404 and the odds of winning the MEGA Millions jackpot are one in 175,711,536, it is a mystery to me why anyone would buy a ticket for this game and have any expectation of winning the jackpot. (If the jackpot IS hit too often for the MEGA Millions lottery officials, I predict that the next name change will be MEGA BILLIONS!)

The player chooses five numbers (White Balls) from 56 numbers, and then selects one Gold MEGA Ball number from 1 to 46. In addition to the lotto jackpot, there are eight other prize categories. The odds of winning second prize for $250,000 are one in 3.8 million — which is the same as the first prize jackpot odds of a 6/40 game. So, the ROB (Return On Bet) is very poor for the other prize categories as well.

States participating in MEGA Millions are California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Washington State.

All it takes is a buck — and an enormous amount of lot of luck — and some Smart Luck® strategies, of course. In spite of the tremendous odds against winning MEGA Millions, there are several things you can do to play smart.