This spreadsheet follows the same logic as our previous post, What’s the expected value of your Powerball ticket?
First, we go to the Mega Millions website to look up the odds and the prize payouts for each combination of winning numbers:
We can use the same logic from our previous spreadsheet, and paste in the new odds, and convert them to probabilities (1 / (odds + 1)):
Looks like today’s jackpot of $122 million has only $0.65 of expected value per $2 ticket.
Check out the Excel spreadsheet here: Mega Millions Excel
We also put it on Google Spreadsheet here: Mega Millions Google Sheet
(Reminder, you can go to File –> Save a copy to download it to your Google Drive)
Play time! How do I create my own lottery or random prize drawing? Of course, you can always list entries on sheets of folded paper, drop them into a hat, and then have a friend reach in to select one. But to build one that can be used anywhere at any time and designed any way you’d like – check out our spreadsheet template