Millions of Australians will be hoping to strike it rich in Thursday night’s $100million Powerball draw, but a mathematics expert has warned there is only one way to improve their chances of winning.
The jackpot has climbed to $100million after no one claimed last week’s top prize, setting up the biggest Powerball draw in more than a year.
The staggering prize would be enough to transform the life of any lucky winner, but the odds of taking home the jackpot are just one in 134.5 million.
If a single ticket holder wins, they will walk away with Australia’s equal third-largest lottery prize on record.
Despite the enormous odds, mathematics expert Professor John Croucher says there is one simple way to give yourself a better shot at winning: buy more tickets.
‘Buy more tickets. There’s nothing else you can do to increase your chances,’ he told Daily Mail on Tuesday.
‘There’s no other strategy, but if there was, I’d be using it.’
Professor Croucher said choosing less obvious lottery numbers could reduce the chances of having to share a jackpot with other winners.
Millions of Australians are dreaming of a life-changing $100million Powerball win on Thursday night, despite the odds of taking home the jackpot being just one in 134.5 million
He explained that popular patterns, such as 1, 2, 3, 4 or 1, 11, 21, 31, are more likely to be picked by other players.
That means if those numbers win, there is a greater chance the prize money will have to be split.
However, choosing less common numbers does not improve your chances of winning.
While some players swear by lucky numbers, Professor Croucher warned against reading too much into previous results.
He explained that every number has the same chance of being drawn, regardless of how often it has appeared before.
‘People talk about numbers that haven’t been drawn out as much and call these numbers overdue, meaning they are more likely to be drawn out, but that’s not true,’ he said.
‘In the opposite end, people will say that numbers that have come up more often than they should, won’t happen again, but that’s also not true.
‘The machine has no memory, so like a poker machine, it has no memory of what happened before and everything starts afresh.’
Macquarie University math expert Professor John Croucher says buying more tickets is the only way to improve your chances of winning Thursday’s $100million Powerball jackpot
‘Powerball themselves on their website actually say which numbers have been drawn out the most and the least, but that’s no guarantee they’ve got any more or any less chance of being drawn out again.’
Historically, the luckiest Powerball number has been nine, which has appeared 103 times since the game’s current format was introduced in 2018.
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.
