Lottery Numbers - What are the Odds?

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, the bigger the jackpots offered, the lower the odds are of winning.

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

We can see this 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 matching all six numbers 1 in 8,145,060.

The UK National Lottery 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.

Note that in all games, the job of the player is to select six lottery numbers. But because each game has a different quantity or pool of numbers a player can choose from, the odds of success also vary greatly and get progressively lower as the pool increases.

One of the best lotteries in the world that offers the highest prize for the best odds is the Australian Saturday Lotto with a guaranteed jackpot every week of AU$4,000,000 and 6 numbers from a pool of 45.

Knowing the chances of succeeding in picking winning lottery numbers is very useful, because it helps you to choose the games more carefully.

See our recommended Lottery websites here.