The best thing you can do is observe past results. Let me preface that by saying all it has yielded me is about 10% average per draw, so take all of this with a grain of salt.
Let's start by analyzing today's Mega Millions numbers and how I break it down: 7-9-24-38-52 +1 124789 3-3
The second group of numbers is the listing of the single digit 'weight' sequence of each - I saw a term on here what that weight is called, it slips my mind. The third group being the odd/even split which has only slightly more significance (if any) to me than draw sum.
If you go back through the past 200 drawings (appx 2 years worth), ~85% of the time the single digit weight sequence is either 4 or 5 digits, meaning that either 1 or 2 of the single digits repeated. There will be a smattering of 3-digit seqeunces (where 3 of them repeated) and 6-digits sequences (where none repeated), but the majority of the time, it's as noted above. ~10% for 6-digit and ~5% for 3-digit sequence. There are NO 2 digit sequences.
To add to that, ~85% of the time, 2 of the digits in that sequence will show up in the next draws sequence. Sometimes only 1 (or even none if it was a 3-digit previous), sometimes 3 of them will repeat, but very rarely (<1%) will 4 of them repeat.
These sequence strings are very unique, in that only a couple of them have repeated through 200 drawings. It is also very rare to have 3 of the numbers in this sequence be sequential (~15%). Even more rare for there to be 4 (<3%). On a side note: Draw #966 (9/23/14) this sequence was 012345
So with all that being said, all it gives you is a way to check your numbers before you play them and see if they fall into that general guideline. You're still going to have to have a crap load of luck to get the 10's positions matching. It's a PITA to try to play numbers while following this. But, if you have numbers in mind to play, apply the sequence rule to see if they're random enough.
Another thing that can be observed is the number of times that drawn number repeats happen. It happens more often than you think, ~15%. The repeats happen in clusters, as well. Sometimes more than 1 number repeats, sometimes there are three-peats. Usually no more than 10 drawings go by without having a repeat.
In reference to numbers being hot: It's a pretty safe assumption that at least 2 of the numbers in any draw will have had come up in the last 10 draws (sometimes more, sometimes less). Think of it as a more elaboate repeat.
So going back to tonight's MM result. There was a farily good chance that there was going to be another repeat (cluster theory) , because 63 had repeated in the previous 2 drawings. and 9 was the repeat from the previous draw this time (good luck guessing that, right?). There was also a farily good chance that another 6-digit sequence was going to show, as the previous drawing was also a 6-digit sequence - There was a string of 20 drawings where it was only 4 or 5 (longer than any I've observed).
~8% you will see a Mega repeat. ~3% you will see the Mega match one of the winning numbers.
~7% of the time there will be sequential strings. ~0.25% a triple sequence, only once in 200 MM draws and more prevalent in games with less than 75 balls.
An additional observation is that you can apply all of this to the Powerball or CA's Super Lotto Plus and see very similar results (though the mega counts are higher and will change the percentages of hits).
Another observation is how often times the PB, SLP or MM mega (power) balls follow suite. Case in point, last PB drawing, the PB was 1 (same as this drawing for MM).
odd/even breaks down to ~85% being either 3-3, 2-4, or 4-2. 5-1's or 1-5's hit ~14% and ~1% for 6-0, or 0-6. It is long overdue (50 draws) for a completely odd or even draw. But, keep in mind that it went 100 draws without one and there were 4 within the fist 50/200).
Another thing I observe is how often there is either a 5 or 10 postion 'jump' between numbers. ~5% for both.
Another way to observe the results is to mark up playslips with past results (just make sure you mark through the barcode so you don't accidentally play them - lol). It gives you an idea of the randomness. The number of times rows/columns have doubles/triples, row/column vacancy, how sometimes they're clusted together, how often numbers are diagonal from each other or 'stacked', shifting of a space or 2 from drawing to drawing, etc. Break up the matrix into quadrants and observe the hits and misses (for MM 3 columns each).
With all that being said, you can observe till you're blue in the face. If it were that easy to anaylize past results and have 'smart-luck', there'd be heck of a lot more people hitting jackpots. To put it into perspective, a millisecond (one one millionth of a second) is to a second what 1 second is to 37 years. Multiply that by 275 and you start to see what you're up against. It's a wonder anybody ever hits a jackpot.
So all that being said, 6 is long overdue for a Mega on Mega Millions and I predict it's going to come up with 6 in the sequence, as well. It wouldn't surprise me if it came up all evens, too. Heck, may as well make it a 3-digit sequence, too.