5 from 1-70, plus 1 Mega Ball from 1-24
Five from 70, plus one from 24
A Mega Millions line is five numbers from 1 to 70 and a Mega Ball from 1 to 24. The five can be chosen in 12,103,014 ways and the Mega Ball in 24, for 290,472,336 distinct tickets. That puts the jackpot at 1 in 290,472,336, and matching the five main numbers without the Mega Ball at 1 in 12,103,014.
| Pool | Pick | From | Combinations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main numbers | 5 | 1 to 70 | 12,103,014 |
| Mega Ball | 1 | 1 to 24 | 24 |
| Whole ticket | 290,472,336 |
Against Powerball
The two big US games trade one range for the other. Mega Millions has one more main number than Powerball (70 against 69) and two fewer in the bonus pool (24 against 26). The extra main number adds combinations; the smaller bonus pool removes more. Mega Millions ends up with 1,729,002 fewer tickets than Powerball’s 292,201,338, a difference of 0.6%, which makes the two jackpots almost exactly as hard to win.
Random lines and shared jackpots
No method of choosing beats 1 in 290,472,336; a quick pick is as likely as a line of favorite numbers and no more. The one real difference is sharing. Of the 70 main numbers, 39 are above 31 and can never come from a date. Only 1.4% of random lines keep all five main numbers at 31 or under, while a line made of birthdays always does, and so overlaps with more of the tickets other people hold.
Random lines also look less tidy than chosen ones. In a five-from-70 draw, 26.2% of random lines contain at least two consecutive numbers, such as 41 and 42. That is what an unbiased draw looks like, not a flaw in the generator.
OnlineRandomizer.com is not affiliated with the operator of Mega Millions; check the official rules before you play.
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Where the randomness comes from
This tool runs entirely in your browser, using its built in cryptographic random number generator. Nothing you type is sent to us, nothing is stored, and each result is thrown away the moment you leave the page. Numbers are drawn without the rounding bias that the usual shortcut introduces, so every outcome is as likely as every other.
Because nothing is recorded, a result here proves nothing to anyone afterwards. If you need a drawing that other people have to accept, for a prize, a campaign or an audit, use Winner Picker, which publishes each result on a permanent link with a signed record anyone can check.