How many tickets do you need to win the lottery?
The honest answer is "far more than you can afford". Choose a game and see exactly how many tickets, and how many dollars, it would take to reach a 1% chance, a 50% chance, or to cover every combination.
Chance of the jackpot
1 in 29,220,134
with 10 tickets
Cost
$20.00
$2 each
Odds improvement
10x
in proportion, but so is the cost
How many tickets would you need?
With 292,201,338 possible tickets, buying more tickets raises your chance only in proportion. Ten tickets give you ten times the chance of one, which is still tiny. No number of tickets is a plan, and the more you buy, the more you can lose.
The numbers in plain words
To be certain of winning the jackpot, you must hold every possible combination. That is why a syndicate once tried to buy every ticket in a smaller lottery in Virginia in 1992, and it took a huge operation to print and collect the tickets in time. For the biggest games the cost is more than the typical prize.
For a smaller aim, the table above shows the number of tickets for a 1% and a 50% chance. They are very large numbers for Powerball and Mega Millions, and much smaller for local games with fewer combinations.
What this means for how you play
- A handful of tickets changes your odds from tiny to slightly less tiny.
- Set a budget for fun, not for a plan to win.
- Smaller, local games with fewer combinations give far better chances, though smaller prizes.
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Frequently asked questions
How many Powerball tickets to win?
To be certain, 292,201,338 different tickets. For a 50% chance you need about half that.
Has anyone bought every ticket?
A group tried to cover every combination in the Virginia Lottery in 1992 and won, but the logistics were extreme and the odds of that game were far better than Powerball's.
What is the cheapest way to improve my odds?
Play a game with fewer combinations. The odds of a 6/49 game are 1 in 13,983,816, about twenty times better than Powerball.
Is it better to buy tickets on different days?
No. Each draw is independent. Spreading tickets across draws does not raise your overall chance per ticket.