GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.— Lottery jackpots are not uncommon in West Michigan. Lucky players win million-dollar jackpots several times a year, and many hope to be the next big winner in 2025.
So, which numbers are considered “luckiest”?
1DollarDepositCasino.co.nz, a New Zealand-based lottery ranking service, conducted research to determine which lottery numbers are most likely to win.
The study examined winning Mega Millions and Powerball numbers from January 2014 to August 2024. The numbers were then sorted from most to least common.
Most common Mega Millions numbers
When playing Mega Millions, players select five white balls from 1 to 70 and one gold ball from 1 to 25. To win the jackpot, all of the balls must match the numbers drawn.
The most popular white ball numbers in winning draws are:
- 31—featured in 102 winning draws
- 17—featured in 95 winning draws
- 3—featured in 94 winning draws
- 11—featured in 63 winning draws
- 9—featured in 62 winning draws
- 4—featured in 60 winning draws
According to Mega Millions, the odds of winning the jackpot are one in 302,575,350.
Most common Powerball numbers
Like Mega Millions, the Powerball jackpot is won by selecting five white balls from 1 to 69 and one Powerball number from 1 to 26. While matching all of the numbers is required to win the jackpot, matching any of the drawn numbers will earn you a prize.
According to Powerball, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292,201,338.
The most popular white ball numbers in winning draws are:
- 39—featured in 114 winning draws
- 32—featured in 108 winning draws
- 33—also featured in 108 winning draws
The most popular Powerball numbers in the winning draws are:
- 18—featured in 58 winning draws
- 24—also featured in 62 winning draws
- 4—featured in 57 winning draws
Before you go all-in on these numbers, Scott Louie of 1 Dollar Deposit Casino warned that even if you play strategically, you’re unlikely to win the jackpot.
“Some people have lucky numbers that they play each week, so it’s interesting to see that some balls are actually drawn more frequently than others,” he told me. “Given a long enough period of time, however, each number should statistically be drawn a similar number of times, so you shouldn’t count on these numbers always cropping up in future draws.”
