(NEXSTAR) — With yet another Powerball drawing ending without a winner on Monday night, the jackpot has now swelled to an estimated $526 million. While boosting your odds in winning might not be straightforward, certain numbers might be due for a win, potentially leading you to a grand prize.
This current jackpot is now the second-largest for 2024, including Mega Millions, and it’s second in size only to the massive $1.326 billion win from a ticket sold in Oregon in April 2024.
Even as the jackpot increases, each ticket still has just a 1 in 292.2 million probability of securing the top prize. Every ticket printed has an identical shot at becoming a winner.
There are numbers that have been hotter than others during the current jackpot run.
Since Powerball started in 1992, more than 3,600 drawings have occurred, according to data from Powerball.net. The numbers 39, 23, 32, 36, and 16 have been drawn the most frequently — over 340 times each. Number 16 came up in the most recent draw on Monday. As for the red Powerball numbers, the most common are 20, 18, 9, 24, and 6, with the latter not being drawn since June 30.
Focusing on the current pool, which has seen changes since 2015, the most frequently drawn main numbers include 21, 61, 23, 33, and 69, with number 33 appearing last on Monday. For the red Powerball numbers, 4, 21, 24, 18, and 14 are the most recurrent.
Out of these frequently appearing main numbers, only 23, along with the red Powerball numbers 24 and 21, have shown up frequently during the most recent jackpot series, which began after the last major win in May.
The “hottest” number has been 35, which has been drawn seven times since May, according to game records. Others include 43, drawn six times, and 8, 23, and 28, all of which have been pulled five times. The No. 25 red Powerball has come up five times, while 21, 24, and 2 were in three drawings each. Four numbers — 8, 3, 22, and 20 — have appeared twice each.
Through the last 31 drawings, there remain some numbers that have not been pulled. From the main pool of 69 numbers, that includes 10, 20, 22, 26, 39, 41, 47, 56, 66, and 68. For the Powerball numbers, it’s 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, and 26. You could consider these numbers “cold” or “overdue,” lottery aficionados say.
Does this mean you should pick the hottest numbers, or maybe all of the overdue numbers?
Some players may swear by one method or another, but neither mathematically improves your odds. That means the numbers drawn on Monday have the same slim chance of being drawn again Wednesday, or next week, or next month.
Picking numbers others may be less likely to pick can, however, cut your chances of having to split the lottery prize with other winners. Rong Chen, professor and chair of the Department of Statistics in the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, previously suggested numbers larger than 31 (this avoids dates like birthdays) and avoiding numbers along the edges or corners of the ticket form.
There may be some truth in playing the same numbers every time and hoping for a win. A South Carolina lottery player recently won a $507,000 jackpot on a state game after playing the same numbers for years.
Whether you rely on a specific set of numbers or prefer a random draw, the next Powerball drawing is scheduled for Wednesday at 10:59 p.m. ET. Powerball is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 each.
