The next Mega Millions drawing will be worth $1.6 billion, and faculty from the University of Alabama at Birmingham are available to provide their expertise on the probability of winning. 

  • What are the odds of someone actually winning the lottery?

"The term 'odds' usually refers to some way of quantifying the probability of some outcome. As such, the odds of winning the Mega Million lottery never change. The rules of the game are the same every time, so the odds of winning — the probability of winning — are always the same. What changes is the size of the jackpot. Something else that changes is the expected payoff for a lottery ticket, which is the probability times the amount you win if you do win. - Associate Professor of Mathematics Shannon Starr

"The odds of winning are about one in 292 million to win 'the big one'. Math can help you calculate the odds, but not to improve them." - Professor Joseph Van Matre, UAB Collat School of Business

 

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