Do more lottery tickets help?
Yes, in exact proportion: ten different tickets make a jackpot ten times likelier. But ten times almost nothing is still almost nothing. At one Powerball ticket a week, the average wait for a jackpot is 5,619,256 years.
In one draw, odds grow in a straight line
Each different combination is one more way to win out of the same fixed total. So the chance of the jackpot with t different tickets in one draw is exactly t times the chance of one ticket, and the cost grows exactly as fast. Two tickets with the same numbers do not double your chance at all: they only double what you would win if that line came up.
Over years, the numbers stay tiny
| Tickets a week | Years | Tickets in all | Chance of ever hitting the jackpot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 520 | 0.00018% |
| 1 | 50 | 2,600 | 0.00089% |
| 10 | 10 | 5,200 | 0.0018% |
| 10 | 50 | 26,000 | 0.0089% |
| 100 | 10 | 52,000 | 0.0178% |
| 100 | 50 | 260,000 | 0.0889% |
The same arithmetic for EuroMillions, whose jackpot is about twice as easy:
| Tickets a week | Years | Tickets in all | Chance of ever hitting the jackpot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 520 | 0.00037% |
| 1 | 50 | 2,600 | 0.0019% |
| 10 | 10 | 5,200 | 0.0037% |
| 10 | 50 | 26,000 | 0.0186% |
| 100 | 10 | 52,000 | 0.0372% |
| 100 | 50 | 260,000 | 0.1858% |
And for Mega-Sena with six-number bets:
| Tickets a week | Years | Tickets in all | Chance of ever hitting the jackpot |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 520 | 0.0010% |
| 1 | 50 | 2,600 | 0.0052% |
| 10 | 10 | 5,200 | 0.0104% |
| 10 | 50 | 26,000 | 0.0519% |
| 100 | 10 | 52,000 | 0.1038% |
| 100 | 50 | 260,000 | 0.5180% |
Syndicates and bolões
Playing in a group buys many different combinations at once, so the group's chance really is higher, in the same straight line. Each member's share of any prize is smaller in the same proportion. A syndicate turns a tiny chance of a whole jackpot into a larger chance of a slice of it; the expected return of each unit of money stays the same.
What does not help
- Playing "overdue" or "hot" numbers: every combination has the same chance in every draw. See lottery myths.
- Wheeling systems: they choose which combinations to buy, not how many. The odds per ticket are unchanged.
- Playing more often in the same game: each draw is a fresh, independent chance at the same odds.
Try your own numbers in the odds calculator. If spending on tickets has grown beyond what is fun, free help is here.