Here's How To Up Your Chances Of Winning The $1.9 Billion Powerball

So you want to be a billionaire? It's highly unlikely that anybody will win Nov. 7’s record-breaking Powerball jackpot of $1.9 billion. But if you're going to play, then you might as well do it right. When it comes down to it, there is little you can do to increase your odds of winning — but I'm telling you that there's a chance, so you might as well keep reading.

First things first: Whether you like it or not, you should probably come to terms with the legitimate odds of winning the prize. They're one in 292.2 million. No matter how many people play, those odds remain the same. To win, you need to match numbers to five white balls, each of which can be between one and 69. Those matches can be in any order. Then, you also have match a number to the red Powerball, which can be any number from one to 26. The number of combinations remains the same, and each combination has the same probability of getting chosen, so therefore, your odds will always be the same ... and not very good.

But who really cares about the odds, right? I mean, if you have the chance to win just shy of two billion dollars, are you really going to pass up that opportunity? If not, you might want to consider choosing a common Powerball number, letting the computer do everything for you, or buying multiple tickets.

If you’re going to make your own picks, you might consider numbers that have popped up most often in recent years. According to LottoNumbers.com, between 2015 and 2022, these have been the most frequent winning digits for the regular white balls:

• 61 (drawn 78 times)
• 32 (drawn 77 times)
• 21 (drawn 73 times)
• 63 (drawn 73 times)
• 69 (drawn 71 times)
• 23 (drawn 70 times)
• 36 (drawn 70 times)
• 39 (drawn 69 times)
• 62 (drawn 69 times)
• 59 (drawn 68 times)
• 20 (drawn 66 times)

And these have been the luckiest numbers for the red Powerball:

• 24 (drawn 45 times)
• 18 (drawn 42 times)
• 4 (drawn 36 times)
• 13 (drawn 34 times)
• 21 (drawn 34 times)
• 6 (drawn 33 times)
• 10 (drawn 33 times)
• 26 (drawn 33 times)

It's important to keep in mind, though, that basing your number selections on history doesn't actually increase your chances of winning. Any combination can win at any time, regardless of whether it’s been selected in the past.

Another data point from lottery history could convince you not to select your own numbers. When buying a ticket, you can either choose all six numbers for yourself, or let the computer choose them for you with what's called a Quick Pick ticket. According to lottery officials, three-quarters of Powerball jackpot winners have used Quick Picks. As with the previous strategy, whether you choose the numbers on your ticket or not has no bearing on your actual odds of winning, but it could make you feel more confident if you're new to the lottery system.

Ultimately, the only strategy that will actually increase your odds of winning the jackpot is to buy multiple $2 tickets — as many as you can financially justify. Going back to the probability, if each number has the same likelihood of being selected, then you'd have to increase the number of selections you have on your side in order to increase your overall likelihood of winning. Unfortunately, buying two, 10, or even 50 tickets won't raise your chances that much. There are nearly 300 million options that could be called on Wednesday night — and if you can afford to buy that many tickets, you probably shouldn't be playing the lottery anyway.