Here Are The Most Common Powerball Numbers

As you probably know, the Powerball jackpot has reached a staggering $1.5 billion, and the numbers will once again be drawn Wednesday night, with many Americans watching from the edge of their seats. That sum is slightly misleading; if the winner chooses to take the prize all at once, rather than in installments over the next 30 years, then they'll get $930 million before taxes. That's still an insane amount of money, though, and you should choose your lotto numbers very carefully if want to be the owner. Rather than use your personal lucky numbers, picking the most common Powerball numbers might be a smarter strategy.

It's hard to imagine what one would even do with more than a billion dollars. You could buy lavish apartments around the world, travel anywhere and any time you wanted, completely change your wardrobe every season, and hire a personal chef to make you drool-worthy meals three times a day. Essentially, you could live better than a Kardashian, since the whole Kardashian clan's estimated net worth is $101 million, according to The Richest — only a fraction of what you could win on Wednesday.

The most common main numbers (the white balls) drawn since the Powerball began are:

• 26: Drawn 266 times
• 41: Drawn 255 times
• 16: Drawn 255 times
• 22: Drawn 254 times
• 42: Drawn 253 times

In the same vein, the most common Powerball numbers picked are:

• 20: Drawn 75 times
• 6: Drawn 74 times
• 29: Drawn 72 times
• 2: Drawn 69 times
• 18: Drawn 68 times

It's important to note that the majority of Powerball jackpot winners (three quarters of them, in fact) won with a Quick Pick ticket, which randomly chooses numbers for you. This isn't necessarily to say that going with a Quick Pick gives you better chances of winning. It's just seemed to worked for more people in the past. In any case, the chances of winning are extremely slim for everyone. The likelihood of buying a ticket that matches every number drawn Wednesday night is more than 1 in 292 million. But in spite of all the pessimists out there making fun of you for putting your hopes in a lottery ticket, the only way to ensure that you don't win is to not play. So good luck!