Estimated monetary value might be a wiser metric to use :) Going by the calculator, EMV of going from buying 0 tickets to 1 is -$1.85 for Mega Millions, same a

Estimated monetary value might be a wiser metric to use :) Going by the calculator, EMV of going from buying 0 tickets to 1 is -$1.85 for Mega Millions, same as going from n to n+1; n >= 0. The first ticket is the first one you lose with, statistically.