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Lottery Combinations: How Many Guarantee a Jackpot?

Can you imagine how winning a lottery jackpot can make your life better? You could invest in a business or quit your job and travel the world.

Becoming the grand prize winner remains a dream for most people. You need a lot of luck to be the player who won the jackpot. Have you ever wondered if there’s a way to guarantee a win? How many lottery combinations would you need to purchase to get that grand prize?

This guide discusses the approach of buying all potential combinations in a lotto draw and whether that’s profitable. Here’s what you should know about winning the grand prize with this method!

How Many Combinations Would Guarantee a Jackpot for Each Lottery?

The only way to ensure that you’ll win the grand prize is to buy all possible combinations for the draw. 

So how many combinations are there? This depends on the number of balls you have to pick and the number pool. Our lottery odds calculator can help you to determine the number of combinations for a particular lotto game. You can also find the calculations for the most popular lotteries below!

Powerball

Powerball Lottery Tickets

US Powerball has a guaranteed jackpot fund of $40 million. It uses a two-drum concept, which puts the maximum number of combinations at 292,201,338. That’s how many tickets you should buy to ensure you’ll be the winner.

Calculation: Powerball requires players to choose five numbers between 1 and 69, and a Powerball number between 1 and 26.

Formula1

= 11,238,513 x 26

= 292,201,338 combinations

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MegaMillions

Mega Millions

The math indicates that MegaMillions has even more possible combinations than Powerball. Your odds of winning the jackpot are 1:302,575,350. You’ll need that many tickets to cover all potential drawing options. However, there’s a way to reduce this by eliminating some unlikely combinations like “1, 2, 3, 4, 5.”

Calculation: MegaMillions requires players to choose five numbers between 1 and 70 and a Megaball between 1 and 25.

Formula2

= 12103014 x 25

=  302,575,350 combinations

Play MegaMillions Now!

EuroJackpot

Eurojackpot

EuroJackpot is the most popular European continental lottery. The concept used is 5/50 + 2/10, which indicates this is a two-drum game. The number of combinations that guarantee a win is 95,344,200. The lotto has two draws weekly to make playing more fun.

Calculations; Eurojackpot requires players to choose five main numbers between 1 and 50 and 2 Euro numbers between 1 and 10.

Formula3

= 2118760 x 45

= 95,344,200 combinations

Play EuroJackpot Now!

EuroMillions

euromillions

EuroMillions is another continental lottery available to players from Europe but also the rest of the world. It has worse odds than its main competitor but somewhat better prizes. The number of combinations to purchase to win a jackpot is 139,838,160.

Calculations: Euromillions requires players to select five numbers between 1 and 50, and two lucky star numbers between 1 and 12

Formula4

=  2118760 x 66

= 139,838,160 combinations

Play EuroMillions Now!

SuperEnalotto

The SuperEnalotto Lottery

This game originated in Italy, but it’s popular throughout the world. That’s because SuperEnalotto jackpots can increase to huge sums. However, the concept provides highly unfavorable odds. You’ll need to buy 622,614,630 combinations to cover all possibilities. SuperEnalotto has a 6/90 single-drum concept, which is the highest number of balls in a single drum in the world.

Calculations:SuperEnalotto requires players to pick six luckiest numbers between 1 and 90.

Formula5

= 622,614,630 combinations

Play SuperEnalotto Now!

Mega Sena

Brazil Mega Sena

Brazil Mega Sena has two draws weekly, and it uses a 6/60 concept. It’s a single-drum lottery with 50,063,860 combinations. The jackpot can increase significantly if there are multiple rollovers. The downside is that Mega Sena only offers three prize tiers.

Calculations: Mega Sena requires players to select six numbers between 1 and 60.

Formula6

= 50,063,860

Play Brazil Mega Sena Now!

France Lotto

LotoFrance

This is another popular European lottery with a two-drum concept. France Lotto has a 5/49+1/10 formula, which puts the winning requirement at 19,068,840 combinations. The guaranteed grand prize fund is €2 million, and you can participate in three draws every week.

Calculations: France Lotto requires players to choose five numbers between 1 and 49, and a chance number between 1 and 10.

Formula7

=  1906884 x 10

=   19,068,840 combinations

Play France Lotto Now!

Germany Lotto

germany lotto

Germany is the largest country in Europe, and the German Lotto is among the biggest national lotteries out there. The rollover limit for the jackpot is 12 times, which limits the grand prize. Since it’s a two-drum concept, the total number of combinations is 139,838,160.

Calculation: German Lotto requires players to choose six white balls between 1 and 49, and a superball between 0 and 9

Formula 8

= 13983816 x 10

= 139,838,160 combinations

Play German Lotto Now!

UK National Lottery

UK National Lottery

Camelot is behind the UK National Lottery. The game offers generous prizes and a simple 6/59 format with a bonus ball. The lottery limits jackpot rollovers to five times, so there’ll be a winner every six draws or less. The total number of combinations required to guarantee a jackpot win is 45,057,474.

Calculation: The UK National Lottery requires players to choose six numbers between 1  and 59.

Formula 9

= 45,057,474 combinations

Thunderball

UK Thunderball

UK Thunderball has many advantages, such as not sharing the grand prize with others. The lotto has four drawings weekly and uses a two-drum concept. The actual formula is 6/39 + 1/14, which means the total number of combinations is 8,060,598. That’s not too much when you compare it to some other national lotto games.

Calculation: The UK Thunderball lottery requires players to select five numbers between 1 and 39, and a thunderball between 1 and 14.

Formula 10

= 575757 x 14

= 8,060,598

Play UK Thunderball Now!

Can You Profit If You Purchase All Lottery Combinations?

It sounds great that you could win the jackpot by buying all combinations for a draw. The main question is whether it’s profitable. Is it worth your time and effort, and does it even make sense?

Here is a simple way to understand the math. You should consider the individual ticket price and multiply it with the number of combinations you need to play. That will give you the investment required. Now, compare that to the jackpot and see if it’s worth your while.

The Calculation Behind It

The best way to explain why purchasing all combinations is hardly ever profitable is by an example. Let’s take Powerball, which has a ticket price set at $2. The number of potential combinations is 292,201,338, so we do this:

292,201,338 x 2 = $584,402,676”

You’ll need $584,402,676 to buy all potential combinations. The Powerball jackpot starts at $40 million but has no limit. The largest win ever is $1.58 billion, which indicates this method can be profitable. But if you think that, you are wrong!

That’s because you never get the advertised amount of the jackpot. Here are the reasons why:

  • Applicable taxes. Some countries don’t apply taxes. However, applicable lottery taxes in the US can go over 30%, which reduces your potential prize by a third. Check out our lottery tax calculator to learn more about regulations in various countries.
  • Annuity payments or lump sums. You can choose to receive the jackpot at once, which will reduce the prize size significantly. And if you go with lump sums, you receive the reward at yearly rates. That means it will take years before you even return the initial investment.
  • The danger of sharing the prize. You bought all potential combinations. However, that didn’t stop other people from playing. What if someone played the winning combinations? In most games, you’ll have to share the prize!

As you can see, these factors are why it’s incredibly hard for this strategy to be profitable.

Can You Even Purchase All Lottery Combinations Out There?

It will take a lot of time and effort to buy all combinations for a single draw. You’ll need to purchase millions of tickets, and you often have only 2-3 days between two drawing sessions. That means you’d only have to buy tickets and do nothing else for days. And the odds are you’d need helping hands even in that scenario. It takes excellent organization to pull this stunt!

Did Someone Try to Buy All the Tickets in the Past?

Yes, and he ended up among the most famous lottery winners ever. The player’s name is Stefan Mandel, and he was born in Romania. As a mathematician, he understood the calculations and odds in the national lottery. He didn’t aim for the jackpot but rather the second prize. It involved guessing five out of six numbers correctly.

Mandel did this decades ago when purchasing all tickets didn’t always exceed the value of the prize fund. His story indicates that he managed to trick various lotteries and win on 14 occasions. Due to the protective mechanisms applied by lotteries, it’s hard to apply his tactics today.

Is It Legal to Buy All Lottery Tickets?

It’s technically legal to purchase all lottery combinations. However, that might attract the attention of authorities. Today, you have offline and online lottery vendors. That means you can’t actually buy all the tickets. Even if only online, other players can play, although their combinations will overlap with yours.

Final Thoughts – Is It Worth to Buy All the Lottery Tickets?

The lotteries learned from their mistakes over time. Today, most lotto providers apply protective mechanisms to prevent anyone from using this method for profit. While you could theoretically buy all lottery tickets, it takes a lot of effort to perform that action in reality. And even if you do, the odds are you are you’d end up losing money. Even if the value of tickets doesn’t exceed the jackpot fund, the grand prize will be lowered by taxes, payment options, or potential prize sharing.

The solution is to relax and enjoy playing the lottery. You can use different lotto strategies to boost your odds of winning. Ultimately, the lottery is incredibly fun, and you’ll love the excitement while watching the draw and checking out results. And if you are lucky enough to win the jackpot, that will be a huge bonus!

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FAQs

Has anyone ever bought all lottery combinations?
Nobody has ever been successful in purchasing all lottery combinations. Although Stefan Mendal got close to buying all the combinations, many factors went against him, and the lottery organizers developed creative ways to prevent anyone from having a hundred percent chance of winning the jackpot.

Is it possible to buy every combination for Powerball?
Theoretically, it is possible to buy every combination for the Powerball lottery. However, buying that many lottery tickets in real time may be impossible. For instance, if you purchased one ticket every second, it would still take over nine years to cover every possible combination. Even if you hire a team to buy each Powerball combination, it is doubtful that you will succeed in time for the lottery draw.

How do you calculate lottery combinations?
You can calculate lottery combinations by inputting the number of balls to be picked and the number pool into the combination formula. For instance, the Canada 6/49 lottery requires players to choose six numbers between 1 and 49 ( 49C6). To make it easier, our lottery odds calculator can help you to calculate the number of lottery combinations for any game. All you have to do is select the number of balls you have to pick and the number pool, and it will provide the result immediately.

Is there a pattern to lottery numbers?
There are no patterns to the lottery numbers. Every lottery draw is random, and there is no way to accurately predict which numbers will be drawn. However, you can still consult past lottery results to find the most common winning lottery numbers and gain insights into your strategies.

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