Who Wants to Be a Half Billionaire!? A Review of Historical Mega Millions Numbers

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BREAKING NEWS UPDATE 3/30/12: The estimate jackpot for tonight's drawing has skyrocketed to $640 MILLION or a $462 MILLION cash payout! WOAH!

As pretty much everyone knows at this point, tomorrow's Mega Millions jackpot is the largest jackpot in world history. At $540 million, a single winning ticket will make the holder of that ticket a half billionaire, on paper at least. If they took the estimated cash payment of $390 million and paid the roughly 35% in Federal taxes (California and local taxes are don't apply), they, or I should say, I, will have roughly $253 million in cash to play around with. Heck, that's enough money to run for President these days!

I have quite a terrible track record with my Mega Millions tickets. I've never won even a measly $2 Mega number using my strategy of a combination of Quick Picks, birthdates, "lucky" numbers, my IQ, golf score, 5K time, etc. So tonight, given the unprecedented size of tomorrow night's drawing, I took it upon myself to do a statistical analysis of previous winning draws.

The CALottery website provides historical winning Mega Millions numbers going back to June 24, 2005, representing 706 previous drawings. I took that data and populated an Excel spreadsheet. Remember there are 5 winning numbers in each drawing ranging from 1 to 56, and 1 winning Mega number ranging from 1 to 46. Basically you have a 1 in 176 million chance of winning, no matter what numbers you pick. But I thought, maybe it would be smarter of me to take a look at the winners that won and didn't win most frequently. So I did.

The results of this exercise are as follows:

Number 48 is a winning number standout, having been selected 83 times, or 11.8%, of the last 706 Mega Millons draws. That is 9 times more than the next two lucky numbers, 36 and 53, which were both selected 74 times during that same period. These were closely followed by 12 and 51 (72 wins), 27, 31 and 52 (71 wins) and 14 (70 wins). Noticeably absent from this top nine list are single-digit numbers. Well, 2 had 69 wins and 4, 5 and 9 had 68 wins, so they aren't too far behind. But bottom line here is, perhaps the number 48 should be closely considered.

The least frequently picked winning numbers were 41 (48 wins), 49 (quite coincidentally 49 wins), followed by 47 (50 wins), 37 (51 wins) and 55, 34 and 6 (52 wins). I do find it interesting that 47 and 49, both perennial losers, sandwich 48, the biggest winner.

On the Mega number side, the clear winner, with 25 wins in the last 706 draws, is number 36. Good ole #36 was followed by 9 (6 wins) and 7 and 35 (20 wins). If you truly want to win something, anything, in the Mega Millions, perhaps your best bet is to pick 36 for your Mega number each time, as statistically it hits around every 28 draws. Hitting the Mega with no other winning numbers gets you a whopping $2. Yippee!

The least frequently winning Mega numbers were 28 (a lousy 6 wins in 706 draws), 32 (10 wins) and 46, 14 and 1 (11 wins).

Now just you watch...all the losing numbers above will hit tomorrow. That always happens. But as statisticians say, each draw is independent of the others and thus the odds of choosing the winning numbers technically DO NOT CHANGE from draw to draw. Thus, while you may or may not find interest in this statistical information, I'd advise you rely upon it solely for its amusement value.

Shown below is the winning number information for all numbers sorted by most to least wins over the last 706 Mega Millions draws. Good luck to all and make sure to CONTACT ME if you win THE BIG ONE tomorrow!!

Winning Numbers

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Only 7 States Have More Presidential Primary Delegates Than the U.S. Territories Have

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Gotta love U.S. politics. Not one person I talk to understands the presidential primary process that began in January and continues through June 2012. But regardless it is fascinating to watch.

There are 57 presidential primaries. One for each state, except Louisiana, which splits its primary into two (a primary and a caucus). In addition, Washington D.C. and 5 U.S. territories, Guam, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa, participate in the process.

In addition to the Louisiana caucus, the states of Iowa, Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Maine, Wyoming, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, Kansas, Hawaii, Missouri, Nebraska and Montana, as well as Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and U.S. Virgin Islands hold caucuses.

The difference between a caucus and a primary is that a primary is a statewide process open to all registered voters by secret ballot whereas a caucus is mor

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Photos of the Lunar Eclipse on December 10, 2011 From Newbury Park

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While most of us were snoozing away this morning, some were viewing the lunar eclipse. According to Wikipedia, a lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes behind the Earth so that the Earth blocks the Sun's rays from striking the Moon. This can occur only when the Sun, Earth, and Moon are aligned exactly, or very closely so, with the Earth in the middle. Hence, a lunar eclipse can only occur the night of a full moon. Unlike a solar eclipse, which can only be viewed from a certain relatively small area of the world, a lunar eclipse may be viewed from anywhere on the night side of the Earth.

Jonathan Stewart was one of the early risers this morning, taking in the views of the lunar eclipse. The Earth's shadow completely blocked the moon from about 6:06 a.m. PST to almost 7 a.m. Thanks to Jonathan we all get to see what transpired.

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Outdoor Watering Restrictions in Ventura County

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In February 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger proclaimed a state of emergency and immediate actions to address the current water shortage crisis in California. On March 30, 2011, Governor Brown proclaimed an end to the state's drought, but urges continued conservation.

The City of Los Angeles has mandatory water conservations requirements for all LADWP customers as revised August 2010:

  • Odd numbered street addresses may water on Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Even numbered street addresses may water on Tues/Thurs/Sun
  • Outdoor watering not allowed between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
  • Sprinklers can be used for 8 minutes maximum per station, but if you have water-conserving nozzles, you're allowed 2 15 minute cycles each watering day
  • No watering driveways, sidewalks and other hard surfaces
  • No excessive runoff or leaks
  • No washing vehicles without a hose shutoff valve
  • No serving water in restaurants unless requested

Simi Valley watering restrictions since July 2009 were rescinded on May 9, 2011 (www.simivalley.org/index.aspx?page=500). The previous restrictions in place that are still advised however:

  • Outdoor watering/irrigation between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. prohibited, except you can use buckets and hoses with shut-off valves
  • Cannot water more than 45 minutes per station per week from April 1 to October 31
  • Cannot water more than 30 minutes per station per week from No
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In Memory of Steve Jobs: His 2005 Stanford University Commencement Speech

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Steve Jobs as we know passed away yesterday at the much too young age of 56, after nearly a decade of battling health problems. Every one of us owning an Apple computer, iPod, iPhone, iPad and other products hold his vision and brilliance in our hands. Though Jobs dropped out of college to pursue his passions that ultimately benefited us all, he was asked to give this memorable commencement speech at Stanford University's 114th Commencement on June 12, 2005. He will be missed but well remembered.

U.S. Postal Service Looking to Make Dramatic Changes to Survive

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The U.S. Postal Service announced today that unless legislation is passed this month, it is on the brink of default on its obligations. They say they need to cut operating expenses by $20 BILLION a year by 2015 to survive.


The Postmaster General spoke today to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. Here are some of the challenges the USPS would like to address with the help of Congress:

Retirement Benefits: By law the USPS is forced to contribute $5.5 billion each year to fund retirement health benefits of future retirees (in addition $2.5 billion for current retirees). The USPS would like to change this requirement.

Delivery Frequency: USPS wants to be able to be able to control delivery frequency...e.g. perhaps 5 days per week instead of 6. USPS states that in surveys, about 75% of the American public (up from 50% 2 years ago) favors cutting back service rather than cover l

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