Exactly what I thought; that the majority, if not all, of the possible combinations could have been in play.Rather, with deference to any statisticians out there, it was reported that by four days ago, so many tickets had been sold that 90 percent of all the possible combinations had been sold, by last night it was probably even a greater percentage.
Also heard a professor of mathematics on the local news who said that while purchasing multiple tickets does increase your odds it does so in such a minimal way that even spending over a million dollars on tickets only increased your odds to less than 50-50. His advice was purchase one ticket and dream.
About buying multiple tickets and you increase in chances... Totally agree that buying extra tickets increases your chances (e.g. buy two tickets doubles it). However the difference in probability in 2 vs 1,000,000 tickets etc., is 1 in 146,000,000 or 1 in 292; many of the available outcomes don't favour you. Not to mention the cost difference. His advice of 1 ticket and dream is kinda how I deal with Lotto Maxx. I don't usually buy multiple tickets (just one), but if I do buy more, never more than a total of $5 to $20. The odds and non-jackpot-pay-offs are really low.