Lucky numbers in demand ahead of Mega Millions
One year-old Karissa Sanchez sleeps on her ftaher Chris’ shoulder as they wait three hours to buy their Mega Millions lottery tickets at Bluebird liquor store on March 29 in Hawthorne, Calif. The Mega Millions jackpot has reached a record high of $640 million.
Anyone searching for lucky numbers ahead of tonight’s Mega Millions draw take note, 48, 36, 53, 12, 27, 31, 51 and 52 are hot, Yahoo! Finance reports.
They’ve come up in 10 percent or more of Mega Millions draws since the first on June 22, 2005 (there have been 705 drawings since then).
If you’re looking for a long shot, 41, 49, 47, 37, and 34 have come up the least, Yahoo! said, citing analysis from Bespoke Investment Group.
The difficult part is up to you, do you let it ride, or buck the trend?
Well, your luck is just as bad either way, Bespoke spokesman Justin Walter said.
“We’d need to see similar results over thousands and thousands of drawings instead of just 705 before we could conclude that there is something other than coincidence behind the numbers that are being drawn more or less frequently,” Walter told Yahoo!. “Using the analysis to pick numbers wouldn’t help at all really because the odds of winning are still extremely low regardless.”
How low? About 1-in-176 million.
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But when the jackpot climbs to a world record $640 million for tonight’s 11:30 p.m. draw in Atlanta, who can resist? Not many, apparently.
NBA player Chris Singleton announced on Twitter he’s too tempted to resist. Singleton reportedly earns $1.5 million annually.
“I’m about to drop 10000 on the lottery and cross my fingers,” he tweeted.
Buying up all the tickets you can doesn’t increase your odds enough to make a difference, Mike Catalano, chairman of the math department at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D told The Associated Press.
“You are about 50 times as likely to get struck by lightning as to win the lottery, based on the 90 people a year getting struck by lightning,” he said. “Of course, if you buy 50 tickets, you've equalized your chances of winning the jackpot with getting struck by lightning.”
Not to mention, it would take 28 years to write down all combinations on those lottery cards, then have them printed, the AP said.
Of course, that takes away the fun, which is why we play, Washington, DC, taxi driver Allsaints Macauley told BBC.
“The guys on Wall Street invest my trust, so my kids will never have to drive a cab or wash dishes like I did,” said Macauley, 64.
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