As Australians dream of a life-changing win in Thursday night’s $100 million Powerball draw, a mathematics expert has delivered a blunt assessment of the best way to improve their odds.
The jackpot reached $100 million after last week’s draw ended without a division-one winner, creating the biggest Powerball prize seen in Australia for more than 12 months.
Although the windfall could completely change the winner’s future, the chance of claiming the entire jackpot remains just one in 134.5 million.
Should one ticket holder land the prize, it would rank as Australia’s equal third-biggest lottery win on record.
Professor John Croucher, a mathematics expert, said there is no secret formula or lucky system capable of shifting the odds. The only practical option, he said, is to purchase additional entries.
“Buy more tickets. There’s nothing else you can do to increase your chances,” he told Daily Mail on Tuesday.
He added that if another effective strategy existed, he would already be relying on it himself.
While unusual number combinations cannot improve the likelihood of winning, Professor Croucher said they may help a winner avoid splitting the jackpot with other players.
Millions of Australians are hoping for a life-changing $100 million Powerball win on Thursday night, although the odds of claiming the jackpot are just one in 134.5 million
Common sequences and patterns, including 1, 2, 3, 4 or 1, 11, 21, 31, are more likely to be selected by multiple players.
If one of those familiar combinations were drawn, the resulting jackpot would therefore be more likely to be divided among several winners.
However, selecting numbers that appear less popular has no effect on the fundamental odds of winning the Powerball draw.
The professor also urged lottery players not to assume that past results offer clues about what will happen next.
Every number has exactly the same probability of being selected, whether it has appeared frequently in previous draws or has not been seen for some time.
“People talk about numbers that have not been drawn recently and describe them as overdue, suggesting they are more likely to appear. But that is not true,” he said.
“Likewise, some people believe a number that has appeared unusually often will not be drawn again soon. That is also incorrect.
“The machine has no memory. Like a poker machine, it does not remember previous results, so every draw begins afresh.”
Macquarie University mathematics expert Professor John Croucher says buying more tickets is the only way to increase the chances of winning Thursday’s $100 million Powerball jackpot
Professor Croucher noted that the official Powerball website lists the numbers drawn most and least often, but stressed that those statistics do not make any number more or less likely to appear in the next draw.
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Since the current Powerball format began in 2018, the number nine has been drawn 103 times, making it the game’s most frequently selected Powerball number.
It is followed by 17, drawn 102 times, while seven and 11 have each appeared 101 times.
But the enormous odds haven’t stopped millions of Australians from buying tickets and dreaming of becoming overnight millionaires.
Among those who have struck it rich is an Adelaide man who became Australia’s biggest individual lottery winner in May 2024 after scooping the entire $150million Powerball jackpot.
The man bought his winning ticket on a whim while filling up his car and, despite his newfound fortune, still turned up to work the following morning.
‘I know it may sound crazy but I’m going to continue working. I’m at work today.’
Recalling the moment he discovered he had won, the man said he could barely contain his excitement.
Among those who have struck it rich is an Adelaide man who became Australia’s biggest individual lottery winner in May 2024 after scooping the entire $150million Powerball jackpot – he still decided to go to work the next day
‘I’ve never screamed so loud or jumped so high!’ he said, according to Powerball operator The Lott.
‘I actually had two tickets into last night’s draw. I looked at the clock last night and saw it was getting late and thought the draw should have been done by then.
‘So, I checked the first one and it came up with nothing, then I scanned the second one and it said $150 million.
The man said he planned to use his winnings to help loved ones and enjoy some of life’s luxuries.
‘I’ll buy a house, want to travel the world and I’ve got a family and friends I want to help,’ he said at the time.
But while some winners discover their newfound fortune almost immediately, others have no idea they are sitting on a life-changing sum.
A $100million Powerball prize is still unclaimed after a winning ticket was purchased at Bondi Junction Newsagency in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in June 2025.
Ccashier Grace Martino told Daily Mail the winner could have been anyone bar the regulars, who have all been asking about the result.
‘People come through all the time. It could be somebody who passed by; it could be someone who’s a backpacker; it could be a tourist.’
The Lott said the winner had made a costly mistake by failing to register their ticket, meaning officials were unable to contact them directly.