Frequency tables, hot and cold numbers, the most drawn Mega Balls: statistics are a fun way to follow Mega Millions, as long as you know what they can and can't tell you. Here's how to read them without drawing the wrong conclusions.
What to expect: about 7.1% and 4.2%
In each drawing, five white balls come out of 70, so every white ball has a 5 in 70 chance, about 7.1%, of being drawn. The Mega Ball is one out of 24, so each Mega Ball has a 1 in 24 chance, about 4.2%.
Over 100 drawings, then, each white ball should come up about 7 times on average, and each Mega Ball about 4 times. That average is the yardstick for any frequency table: numbers above it are "hot", numbers below it are "cold".
Times drawn and percentages
Tables usually show two things: the number of times each number has been drawn in a period, and a percentage. Check what the percentage refers to: it can be the share of drawings in which the number appeared, or its share of all the balls drawn. The same number can show 10% in one table and 2% in another without any contradiction.
Hot and cold numbers
Hot numbers are the ones that have come up most often lately; cold numbers are the ones that haven't come up for a while. It's a way of describing what has happened, not what's going to happen: the balls have no memory, and a cold number is no more "due" than a hot one is on a streak.
In every drawing, all 70 white balls and all 24 Mega Balls have exactly the same chance, whatever they've done before.
Why the period changes everything
The fewer drawings you look at, the more chance dominates. In ten drawings, 50 white balls are drawn among 70 numbers: many numbers won't appear at all and a few will appear two or three times, and that's completely normal.
Even over 100 drawings, a white ball coming up only 2 times or as many as 12 is within what chance normally produces. Big differences in a short period don't mean anything is wrong with the drawing: they're exactly what randomness looks like.
Don't mix the old game with the new one
Mega Millions has changed its number pools several times. The white balls went up to 75 between October 2013 and October 2017, and until April 2025 there were 25 Mega Balls. Long-term tables that mix those periods are skewed: they may list a Mega Ball 25 that no longer exists, or show numbers from 57 to 70 as "cold" just because they weren't in the game before 2013.
When you compare frequencies, stick to drawings played under the same rules. The dates of each change are in Mega Millions historical changes.
The Mega Ball has its own statistics
The Mega Ball comes from a separate machine with its own set of balls, so its frequencies have nothing to do with the white balls'. A number can be hot as a white ball and cold as a Mega Ball at the same time. Read the two tables separately.
Do winning combinations repeat?
A combination that has already been drawn has exactly the same chance of coming up again as any other: 1 in 290,472,336. Avoiding past winning numbers doesn't improve your odds, although it can reduce the chance of sharing a prize with people who play them.
Traps to avoid
- The gambler's fallacy: believing a number is "due" because it hasn't come up for a while.
- The hot hand: believing a number that's been coming up will keep coming up.
- Seeing patterns: runs, repeated endings or "lucky" groups appear by pure chance in any random series.
- Counting winners instead of odds: if more Quick Picks win jackpots, it's because more tickets are Quick Picks, not because they're luckier.
What statistics are good for
Statistics won't tell you what numbers will be drawn, but they're a good way to follow the game, check how often your favorite numbers have come up and understand how randomness works. If you like, you can use them to build your lines: the Predictor does it for you with hot numbers, cold numbers or a straight Quick Pick, and it can skip the combinations lots of people play.
Where to see the data
On our statistics page you'll find hot and cold numbers, how often each number has been drawn and number ranges for the period you choose. Every past drawing, with its winning numbers and prize breakdown, is in results. And the odds behind all of this are in Mega Millions odds.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most common Mega Millions numbers?
It depends on the period you look at, and it changes from week to week. Our statistics page shows the most and least drawn numbers for the period you choose. No number is more likely to come up in the next drawing.
Are hot numbers more likely to be drawn?
No. Every number has the same chance in every drawing. Hot and cold numbers describe the past, not the future.
Why do some frequency tables show a Mega Ball 25?
Because they include drawings from before April 2025, when there were 25 Mega Balls. Since then there are 24, so those tables mix two versions of the game.
Last reviewed: . Independent information: official results are published by the lottery that runs the game.