Lottery Numbers Compared

Lottery numbers are the stuff that dreams are made of for millions of lottery players worldwide, but did you know that lottery numbers can tell you a lot about your chances of winning?

Not all lottery games are equal, and whilst we would all like to land the biggest win possible, these tend to be offered in the games that are actually the most difficult to win.

The quantity of numbers used in a game plays a vital role in determining the odds of you picking the winning lottery numbers. The basic rule is simple, the fewer numbers there are to choose from, and the fewer numbers you have to select, the better.

We can see this very clearly when comparing the Irish Lotto game with the UK National Lottery and with the Powerball and MegaMillions games in the US:

• The Irish Lotto requires players to select 6 numbers from the range 1 to 45. This makes the odds of winning the top prize (by matching all six numbers picked) 1 in 8,145,060.

• The UK Lotto requires players to select 6 numbers from the range 1 to 45. The odds of matching all six numbers in this case are 1 in 13,983,816.

• Powerball requires players to select 5 main numbers from the range 1 to 55 and 1 Powerball number from the range 1 to 42. The odds of matching all six selected numbers are 1 in 146,107,962.

• MegaMillions requires players to select 5 main numbers from the range 1 to 56 and 1 Mega number from the range 1 to 46. This makes the odds of matching all six numbers 1 in 175,711,536.

You will note that in all three games, the task of the player is to select six lottery numbers. But because each game varies in the quantity of numbers a player can choose from, the odds of success also vary greatly.

Knowing the chances of us succeeding in selecting winning lottery numbers is very useful, because it helps us to choose our games more carefully. People who want to stand a chance of joining the richest people in the world and buy a private plane or two would obviously want to focus on games like Powerball and MegaMillions. However, those who just want a couple of million or more to secure financial freedom might be more successful playing the Irish or UK Lotto games.

7th April 2008

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