How to win the lottery in Ohio, according to the numbers

CLEVELAND (WJW) — It’s free to dream. That’s what the lottery really can do; cause you to stare off into space just imagining the adventures you could have and the bills that could be paid if piles of money came your way.

But, as the Mega Millions jackpot is currently going up and up , what does it really take to win the lottery? A math professor from Fairfield University in Connecticut, who won $100,000 off the Powerball in 2016, was interviewed earlier this year about his secret to success.

Nick Kapoor told NBC that as an exercise for one of his classes, he purchased a ticket to show everyone how hard it was to win. The rub came when his ticket was actually a winner.

“So the lesson didn’t really go according to plan,” he told NBC . “But it is a fun story and I still buy a lottery ticket and bring it into the classroom because it is very, very improbable for someone to win the lottery. It just so happened that that time it happened to be me.”

So you’re saying there’s a chance?

As Kapoor explained to NBC, your chances of winning do go up when you purchase more lottery tickets, but only by a tiny percentage. Overall, the odds of winning the Powerball or the Mega Millions is about 1 in 300 million. Other games that aren’t nationwide offer better odds of winning, you just won’t win as much money. For instance, the odds of winning a scratcher ticket are about 1 in 3.41, U.S. News and World Report found .

The most winning numbers

A math professor at Davidson College, Tim Chartier, explained a better way to be the sole winner of a jackpot is to select numbers randomly, rather than choosing your kid’s birthday or the date you purchased the ticket

“If you pick your favorite number or the day of your birthday like the 7th, which is the day of the next drawing, many people can be doing the same and that puts a lot of numbers between 1 and 31,” Chartier told the North Carolina college.

While there is the same probability that any ball is chosen, there are some numbers that have been selected more often in the big jackpots.

We took a look at the statistics for the Mega Millions and Powerball via the Ohio Lottery to see which number are more likely to win. The numbers are based on the last handful of years. We’ve limited the numbers to the top five on the list.

Mega Millions
First Five Numbers:

• 17
• 14
• 31
• 10
• 64

Mega Ball Number:

• 22 (28 times)

Powerball
First Five Numbers:

• 39
• 21
• 36
• 61
• 63

Powerball Number:

• 18 (30 times)

Where to buy a winning lottery ticket in Ohio

The Ohio Lottery told FOX 8 that since 2013, 20 stores have sold winning Jackpot tickets worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.

Here are the store locations that sold winning jackpot tickets:

And which stores have sold winning Powerball tickets across the state? Only four jackpot-winning tickets have ever been purchased in Ohio:

• April 19, 2023 — $252.6 million jackpot ($134.7 million cash) : Bought at Get Go #3279 in Macedonia
• July 9, 2014 — $122 million advertised jackpot ($124.9 million final jackpot) – Bought at True North in Conneaut
• June 2, 2010 — $261.6 million jackpot – Ticket sold at Hub Carryout in Sunbury in Delaware County
• June 23, 2010 — $97 million jackpot (split with Montana) – Purchased at Shirley’s Carryout in Curtice, not far from Toledo

As far as the second-tier $1 million prize — when a ticket matches 5 of the numbers but not the Powerball — more than 65 lucky winning tickets have been announced in Ohio since 2012.

Winning the lottery worthwhile?

Money doesn’t guarantee happiness, but it does allow people to feel more secure and can bring a sense of fulfillment, according to a study in this scientific journal . And despite many articles circulating on the internet about the hardships of lottery winners, Forbes recently debunked the supposed myth of lottery winners most likely going bankrupt. In fact, one Swedish study from 2020, found “sustained increases in overall life satisfaction” for those who won the lottery.

Still, as Kapoor noted , it is always important to “play responsibly” when it comes to the lottery.

** Have questions about your gambling habits? The National Problem Gambling Helpline can be reached at 1-800-GAMBLER.

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