Powerball

Use the selectors on this page to return valid white-ball combinations according to your preferences.

NOTE: Because we are dealing with a total of +11M possible combinations (of white balls), setting filtering options that include massive result sets may timeout your browser. Little Lottery Helper recommends selecting filter options that limit the number of combinations returned for best results.

Explanations of Logic at Use

This section explains the logic at use in our selectors for Powerball number combinations.

Since the Powerball game uses two sets of numbers (one for the white balls and another for Powerballs), we must consider the combinations of numbers separately. Our primary focus on this helper site is to guide players in making white ball selections that correspond to more likely winning white ball combinations.

Powerball selections are entirely up to each player, but the Stats tab on this page offers some additional guidance as to which red Powerballs have been drawn more or less frequently throughout the game’s history.

It is important to note that, while the result of each Powerball drawing is completely random, there are statistical caveats to consider which may increase the odds of a particular set of numbers being chosen. For instance, as each winning combination is randomly selected, it is entirely possible that the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are drawn every time, but that is highly unlikely. Consequently, it is also unlikely that the same combination of white balls will be selected multiple times. In fact, as of December 2018, the same five white balls have NEVER been chosen for any two Powerball drawings.

That’s where our logic comes in. Among other selectors, we offer users the ability to filter out previous winning combinations of white balls. We know that the chance of the same set of white balls being selected is so slim that it has never happened. So why would we want to pick numbers for an upcoming drawing that have already occurred in the past?

If we extend this logic to include all possible Powerball combinations (currently the Powerball ranges from 1 to 26), we can eliminate 26 times the previous white ball combinations by filtering out the previous white ball combinations for each possible Powerball.

Our proprietary filtering mechanisms also allow users to take other factors into account. For instance, the total of the white balls added together can help users filter their selections.

By knowing that an all-low-number combination is less likely (as is an all-high-number combination) we can remove many possible white ball combinations from consideration. As our research in the Stats section illustrates, previous Powerball draws in which the highest white ball was less than 10 have NEVER occurred. The same is true for previous Powerball draws in which the lowest white ball was greater than 51. That makes combinations like (2, 4, 5, 7, 8) or (57, 59, 63, 66, 68) VERY unlikely to occur, and our selections allow users to filter those out.

Powerball Draw Statistics

Generally speaking, there is a lot that we can observe based on previous winning combinations. The details in this section outline the variables at play. For example, the ranges of possible white balls and Powerballs, as well as the dates when the rules were changed. We also present the frequency of white balls and Powerballs from previous drawings, with notes about the dates when balls were added or removed from each range.

Available Numbers

The current range of white balls is from 1 to 69, and the red balls currently range from 1 to 26. But it hasn’t always been this way. The table below lists the number ranges for both balls, as well as the dates of change.

Date Start	Date End	# White Balls	# Red Balls
1/1/1992	12/31/2008	55	43
1/1/2009	1/14/2012	59	39
1/15/2012	10/3/2015	59	35
10/4/2015	Current	69	26

Number Frequency

The below table illustrates how often each number has occurred as a white or red ball in previous winning Powerball draws.

Some players may want to select a particular number as a white or red ball if that number occurs more frequently than others, basing their choice on the assumption that the trending frequency will continue. Other players may opt to select numbers that have occurred less frequently, arguing that a number is “overdue” for a draw.

There is no guaranteed right or wrong answer, but we are presenting this frequency data as another tool for players to use in the selection process.

NOTE: Keep in mind that not all numbers have been available for all draws. Counts for numbers below 59 will be especially low because numbers above 59 were only introduced in 2015.

Hold your mouse over number counts at the bottom of this table for explanations about how their availability has changed over time.

White Ball Totals Distribution

One of the filtering mechanisms available on Little Lottery Helper relates to the sum total of the white balls for any given combination. The chart below demonstrates the purpose of this filter.

If a combination’s white ball total is low, it means all the white balls in that combination consist of low numbers. The opposite is true for combinations with high totals. This chart maps the totals of previous winning Powerball combinations, illustrating that totals in the middle are much more common. The likelihood of future Powerball draws containing all low or all high numbers is less than the chances of combinations from the middle of this chart.

The takeaway: Players eliminating white ball combinations from the low and high ends of this chart will increase their overall odds of matching winning combinations. Notice that white ball combinations with totals from 96-195 occur much more frequently.

Occurences of Sequential Numbers

Because of the random nature of each draw, there is a limited probability of any given combination containing sequential numbers. Inspecting previous winning combinations, we can see that a winner containing all five balls in a sequence has NEVER occurred. A little more surprisingly, even a winner containing four balls in sequence has never happened.

Even winning combinations containing three balls in a sequence are exceedingly rare. So based on how seldom these sequential numbers occur in actual winning combinations, if we remove those combinations from our selections we can filter out the less likely candidates.

In fact, out of all the possible valid combinations of white balls, there are 65 valid combinations containing all five balls in sequence, 4,160 containing four balls in a sequence, 135,200 with three balls in a sequence, and 2,839,200 having two balls in a sequence.

If we remove just the three, four and five ball sequences from our candidates, we can eliminate 139,425 unlikely possibilities from our selection.

Players electing to also ignore combinations containing two ball sequences will remove over 25% of less likely combinations from their selection.

Highest Low / Lowest High

A similar metric to the white ball totals, looking at the highest low number in previous winning combinations reveals that there has never been a Powerball combination in which the first ball^* was higher than . Conversely, there has never been a winning combination where the last ball^* was less than .

Also keep in mind that even these highest-low and lowest-high occurrences are still exceptions among the whole history of winning Powerball draws. For a closer look at how these metrics apply to all previous Powerball draws, have a look at the charts below.

Historically, combinations with first balls of 31 or higher are exceedingly rare, as are combinations with last balls of 30 or lower.

The takeaway: Selecting a highest low (first ball) of around 30 will remove a lot of less likely combinations. Likewise, choosing a lowest high (last ball) around 30 will also weed out many less likely combinations.

Little Lottery Helper actively maintains the number of variations possible with the given ranges of white balls at any given time. The table below assumes that each combination is ordered from least to greatest and that no numbers are repeated in any given combination.

The Valids columns in the table below represent the number of valid combinations being counted for each number (1 – 69) in any given ball position (first, second, third, fourth, fifth). Because numbers can’t repeat within any single combination, the lowest number possible for the fifth ball is 5. Varying only the fifth ball, we add one valid combination for each possible number (5-69).

Values highlighted in yellow are not added to the column totals because they have already been counted in the previous columns’ totals. For example, all of the fifth ball variants (left column) already included 4 as the fourth ball. Therefore, we don’t need to count the possible combinations in which 4 is the fourth ball, we can start with 5 instead.

The total unique Powerball combinations calculated below can be verified by visiting the official Powerball website, scrolling to the bottom of the page and clicking the View prizes and odds chart link, where they report that the odds of matching all five white balls and the Powerball are 1 in 292,201,338.

Interestingly, the official Powerball site incorrectly gives the odds of matching all five white balls as 1 in 11,688,053.52, though the math proves that there are actually 11,238,513 possible white ball combinations. Multiplying the total white ball combinations by the 26 possible Powerballs results in the total Unique Powerball Combinations presented below.

11,238,513	Unique Combinations of White Balls
26	Powerball Numbers
292,201,338	Unique Powerball Combinations

5th Num Var Only		4th Num Var		3rd Num Var		2nd Num Var		1st Num Var
5th Num	Valids	4th Num	Valids	3rd Num	Valids	2nd Num	Valids	1st Num	Valids
5	1	4	65	3	2145	2	47905	1	814385
6	1	5	64	4	2080	3	45760	2	766480
7	1	6	63	5	2016	4	43680	3	720720
8	1	7	62	6	1953	5	41664	4	677040
9	1	8	61	7	1891	6	39711	5	635376
10	1	9	60	8	1830	7	37820	6	595665
11	1	10	59	9	1770	8	35990	7	557845
12	1	11	58	10	1711	9	34220	8	521855
13	1	12	57	11	1653	10	32509	9	487635
14	1	13	56	12	1596	11	30856	10	455126
15	1	14	55	13	1540	12	29260	11	424270
16	1	15	54	14	1485	13	27720	12	395010
17	1	16	53	15	1431	14	26235	13	367290
18	1	17	52	16	1378	15	24804	14	341055
19	1	18	51	17	1326	16	23426	15	316251
20	1	19	50	18	1275	17	22100	16	292825
21	1	20	49	19	1225	18	20825	17	270725
22	1	21	48	20	1176	19	19600	18	249900
23	1	22	47	21	1128	20	18424	19	230300
24	1	23	46	22	1081	21	17296	20	211876
25	1	24	45	23	1035	22	16215	21	194580
26	1	25	44	24	990	23	15180	22	178365
27	1	26	43	25	946	24	14190	23	163185
28	1	27	42	26	903	25	13244	24	148995
29	1	28	41	27	861	26	12341	25	135751
30	1	29	40	28	820	27	11480	26	123410
31	1	30	39	29	780	28	10660	27	111930
32	1	31	38	30	741	29	9880	28	101270
33	1	32	37	31	703	30	9139	29	91390
34	1	33	36	32	666	31	8436	30	82251
35	1	34	35	33	630	32	7770	31	73815
36	1	35	34	34	595	33	7140	32	66045
37	1	36	33	35	561	34	6545	33	58905
38	1	37	32	36	528	35	5984	34	52360
39	1	38	31	37	496	36	5456	35	46376
40	1	39	30	38	465	37	4960	36	40920
41	1	40	29	39	435	38	4495	37	35960
42	1	41	28	40	406	39	4060	38	31465
43	1	42	27	41	378	40	3654	39	27405
44	1	43	26	42	351	41	3276	40	23751
45	1	44	25	43	325	42	2925	41	20475
46	1	45	24	44	300	43	2600	42	17550
47	1	46	23	45	276	44	2300	43	14950
48	1	47	22	46	253	45	2024	44	12650
49	1	48	21	47	231	46	1771	45	10626
50	1	49	20	48	210	47	1540	46	8855
51	1	50	19	49	190	48	1330	47	7315
52	1	51	18	50	171	49	1140	48	5985
53	1	52	17	51	153	50	969	49	4845
54	1	53	16	52	136	51	816	50	3876
55	1	54	15	53	120	52	680	51	3060
56	1	55	14	54	105	53	560	52	2380
57	1	56	13	55	91	54	455	53	1820
58	1	57	12	56	78	55	364	54	1365
59	1	58	11	57	66	56	286	55	1001
60	1	59	10	58	55	57	220	56	715
61	1	60	9	59	45	58	165	57	495
62	1	61	8	60	36	59	120	58	330
63	1	62	7	61	28	60	84	59	210
64	1	63	6	62	21	61	56	60	126
65	1	64	5	63	15	62	35	61	70
66	1	65	4	64	10	63	20	62	35
67	1	66	3	65	6	64	10	63	15
68	1	67	2	66	3	65	4	64	5
69	1	68	1	67	1	66	1	65	1
Total Combos	65		2,080		45,760		766,480		10,424,128