Megamillions $1.2 Billion Win
Date: Mon 1-Aug-2022Time: 15:08 – MDT
Someone in Illinois won the Jul 29 drawing worth $1.2 billion. Well and good, and we're happy for them, whoever they are.
Perhaps what bears more scrutiny is the fact that the win occurred after 29 consecutive non-win draws.
Given that millions of people play the lottery every draw date, that just underscores the low probabilities of winning associated with the Megamillions franchise.
With a range of 1-70 for the normal balls and 1-25 for the Megaball, the probabilities work out to 1/302,575,350 or 1 out of three hundred two million, five hundred seventy-five thousand, three hundred and fifty.
That's the downside.
The upside is the winner managed to beat the odds: odds considerably more unlikely than getting hit by a piece of Chinese space booster undergoing uncontrolled re-entry (according to the article, around 1/10,000 – although nobody needs to purchase a ticket to qualify...)
The upside is that somebody did win it, and that someone could have been anyone: you, me, the guy or gal in your group — as long as you or they have a ticket.
Small consolation, perhaps, but as always the maxim holds: the only guaranteed outcome is if you don't play you absolutely will not win. Understanding that, you also have to have realistic expectations and play accordingly.
For more info on lottery probabilities, see the Lottery Education page.
Best, and luck to all, and, hey! Maybe Lottery Proto can help you choose some lucky numbers based on your personalized information and beat those astronomic odds!
