7 Tools to Generate Your Random Mega Millions Numbers
By Matt Petronzio On Mashable
People in the U.S. are buzzing about the record-high Mega Millions lottery jackpot. Maybe you’ve bought countless tickets, coaxed your coworkers into getting in on the action, or tried to lessen the competition by convincing people that the lottery was cancelled altogether. You’ve even imagined headlines in your honor (“Mashable Intern Wins Mega Millions [EXCLUSIVE]).” Hey, I can dream too.
The most important aspect of getting your hands on all that dough, of course, is picking the winning numbers. But how do you choose? What if your lucky numbers just aren’t working, or what if you’re buying so many tickets that you just want the numbers chosen for you? And what if you don’t trust those lotto machines?
We’ve found seven random number generators that could help you select lotto combinations. Because we care about our readers at Mashable, we’ll tell it straight: You’re not going to win. These numbers are random. They will not increase your odds of winning. But hey, in case you do, remember to give us a cut of the winnings. *It’s only fair.
*Not really.
Built in 1998 by Mads Haahr of the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, Random.org touts that your numbers will be chosen by "true randomness" from atmospheric noise.
This iPhone/iPad app will not only generate numbers for you while you're on the go, but it will also give you updates after each drawing.
Android users can be mega millionaires, too.
Similar to Random.org, Research Randomizer is a free service meant for students and researchers to provide numbers for random sampling and assignment.
If you're looking for a virtual version of the traditional lottery experience to generate your numbers, this app is for you. All you have to do is spin the drum.
This generator software has a 30-day free trial — plenty of time to get the winning numbers.
If you have a simple spreadsheet program on your computer like Microsoft Excel or iWork Numbers, just click anywhere within the table and type =RANDBETWEEN(1, 56) and press enter. A number between one and 56 will generate.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, davidf.
