The Mega Millions Lottery requires a player to make 2 choices: (1) Pick 5 numbers out of a set of 56 white balls; and (2) Pick 1 Mega Ball from a set of 46 balls. If the player picks the same numbers as those that are drawn in the next drawing, the player wins the Jackpot prize.
While everyone says that every combination has an equal chance of winning, Lottery Power Picks and others, believe that certain combinations are more likely to occur than others.
The following Tables summarize the occurances of the Even / Odd Distribution of all Mega Millions combinations.
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The MegaMillions white balls are numbered 1 to 56. The player selects 5 of these numbers. The table below shows the probability of selecting even and odd balls.
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| There are 46 Mega Balls, half are even and half are odd.
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Table MM-1a Mega Millions Even/Odd Distribution
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Num Even
| Num Odd
| Num Combos
| Pct Combos
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5
| 0
| 98,280
| 2.6%
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4
| 1
| 573,300
| 15.0%
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3
| 2
| 1,238,328
| 32.4%
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2
| 3
| 1,238,328
| 32.4%
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1
| 4
| 573,300
| 15.0%
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0
| 5
| 98,280
| 2.6%
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| 3,819,816
| 100.0
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Table MM-1b: Mega Ball Even/Odd Distribution
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| Num Balls
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Even
| 23
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Odd
| 23
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Total
| 46
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As shown in Table MM-1a, 64.8% of the 5 number combinations are made of either 3 even balls and 2 odd balls, or vice versa. The next most common is 4 even and 1 odd or 1 even and 4 even. The rarest numerical combinations are those where the white balls are all even or all odd. In both of these cases, there is only a 2.6% chance of either one occuring. So starting off, try to avoid combinations containing all odd or all even numbers. This may increase your chances of having a winning combination.
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