Worldwide lottery odds & science
Odds derived from the published rules of every major world lottery, real draw data with real significance tests, and calculators for the questions the marketing never answers. No hot numbers. No vibes.
Powerball
United States (multi-state)
Jackpot: 1 in 292,201,338
EuroMillions
Multi-national (Europe)
Jackpot: 1 in 139,838,160
Powerball (Australia)
Australia
Jackpot: 1 in 134,490,400
Lotto (UK)
United Kingdom
Jackpot: 1 in 45,057,474
Mega Millions
United States (multi-state)
Jackpot: 1 in 290,472,336
Oz Lotto
Australia
Jackpot: 1 in 62,891,499
Every division of every game computed from the matrix — with the operator's own figure alongside as the cross-check, not the source.
Browse gamesFrequency tables plus the chi-square test the hot-number sites never run — recomputed after every imported draw.
Test any historyExpected value, break-even jackpots, syndicate splits, invest-instead projections — all client-side, all showing the working.
Open the toolsHow lottery odds are actually calculated — combinations explained from scratch
Every headline lottery number — 1 in 292,201,338, 1 in 139,838,160 — comes from one counting formula. Here it is, built from scratch and applied to the world's major games.
Picturing 1 in 292 million: five comparisons that actually work
Human intuition handles odds up to about a thousand, then quietly gives up. Five physical pictures of the Powerball jackpot's 1 in 292,201,338 — every one with its arithmetic on show.
Jackpot odds vs 'any prize' odds: how 1 in 292 million becomes 1 in 24.9
Operators quote 'overall odds of winning' because it is a genuinely small number. We derive Powerball's 1 in 24.87 from its nine prize tiers and show why 92% of those wins are the minimum prize.
What a bonus ball actually does to your odds
A bonus ball from a separate machine multiplies the whole game; a bonus ball from the same machine leaves the jackpot untouched and only builds extra divisions. The worked difference, with US Powerball, UK Lotto and Australian supplementaries.
Why buying two tickets changes nothing (even though it doubles your odds)
Doubling a vanishingly small probability yields a vanishingly small probability. The arithmetic of extra tickets, why our log-scaled intuition falls for it, and what it would actually take to move the needle.
The birthday problem vs the lottery: why coincidences are cheap and jackpots aren't
The birthday paradox worked from scratch: 23 people, 253 pairs, 50.7%. The same some-vs-specific logic explains why lottery winners appear every week while any given ticket stays hopeless.