Winless Lottery Steak and Generalized Geometric Distribution

Abstract

In the U.S., the two most popular lotteries are Mega Millions ® and Powerball. In Mega Millions ® , players pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers, five different numbers from 1 to 70, and one number from 1 to 25, a total of six numbers. In Powerball, players choose five numbers from 1 to 69 and one number from 1 to 26. If there is no winning ticket this time, the amount of jackpot (matching all six numbers) increases for the next draw until a winning ticket is found. We estimate the average number of draws it takes for a winning lottery ticket to be found.