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The United States is full of future millionaires.
At least, that's what millions of people are betting on when buying a lottery ticket. the jackpot of the Mega Millions lottery, which reaches 1 billion dollars. (Yes – that's with a B.)
The amount is the result of several random draws generating no winnings and a steady stream of customers buying tickets across the country, which in fact the second highest lottery prize in the history of the United States.
"It's a fun dream," said Carole Gentry, general manager of communications for Maryland Lottery and Gaming, explaining why she thinks people like to play a game that's not statistically to their advantage. According to the Mega Millions website, the chances of winning the jackpot are greater than one in 302,500,000.
In the next draw scheduled for Friday night, many players rely on numbers that they have judged to be lucky in the past.
"I use a lot on the 6th and the 13th," said Janine Peterson, lift operator at the Neil Simon Theater in Manhattan. "Six was the number of my nephew he used playing baseball, and the 13th is a number my family has always loved. Number 13, everyone thinks it's bad luck. We always found that it was a good number.
Standing in front of an electronic billboard displaying the current amount of Mega Millions, Peterson said he had at home a $ 10 bill filled with six-figure combinations depicting favorite numbers, anniversaries and the anniversary of his mother.
"I only play if it's a big amount," Peterson said.
Depending on the year, Peterson could have had a better chance of winning one of his numbers at the jackpot, according to Mega Millions' data. Number 6 is among the top 10 numbers of the main ball pool, the five numbers preceding the last Mega Ball number on a ticket, for the Mega Millions lottery from 2002 to 2005. The number 6 has been selected 34 times out of a total of 324 draws. this period of three years. However, the frequent presence of numbers does not mean that the automatic selection method increases your chances of winning.
Various lottery officials across the country told NBC News that there is no evidence that a computer-generated combination, called Quick or Easy. Pick, would give you a better chance of winning the lottery. In fact, compared to the manual selection of numbers, experts say that the chances of a player are always 50/50.
"More people are doing the Quick Pick, so there would be more winners out of all, but that's because more people are using Quick Pick," said Sally Lunsford, director of lottery public affairs. from Kansas. "If you're lucky, you'll be."
If the odds of choosing the winning numbers are the same regardless of the player's method of selection, why do people always choose their own numbers? Patrick Johnson, public information specialist at the Oregon Lottery, said he had a theory.
"Today, we live in a society as technological," Johnson said. "I think some people like that feeling of control. They like to choose their luck. "
The number combinations that players can play have changed over time as the lottery group adds and subtracts digital ranges to the composition of the ball." Since 2002-05, the number of main and mega balls players could choose According to Mega Millions statistics, players can play numbers 1 to 70 of the main ball and numbers 1 to 25 of the Mega Ball.
But that does not stop players like Mark Brea to play the same numbers – mainly birthdays of the family (and dog) – each week.
"I keep playing the same numbers over and over again," said Brea. "I have the # If you play the same numbers, you have a better chance. "
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