$400 Million In Sight For Friday’s Mega Millions Drawing

Another work week is in the books and neither of the major national draw lottery jackpots hit. That sets the stage for a major Friday night Mega Millions drawing … followed by a relatively anticlimactic Saturday night Powerball drawing.

(But we wouldn’t turn down a winning ticket for Powerball, of course.)

At an estimated $393 million for Friday’s drawing, if someone wins this would be tied for the 22nd highest Mega Millions jackpot amount ever claimed. The Aug, 11, 2017 jackpot won by Patricia Busking of Palos Heights, Illinois, was also $393 million.

(Jackpot estimates tend to be conservative, however, so there’s every possibility this one comes in a bit over $393 million — with an outside chance at pushing $400 million.)

If a winner takes the lump-sum cash option, that’s estimated at $181.5 million.

The Powerball jackpot for Saturday, on the other hand, is a modest $77 million (with an estimated cash value of $36 million). That grand prize is just beginning to work its way back up after a customer in Florida won for $215 million on May 6.

$3 million for you, $1 million for you

Even though nobody hit the jackpot, there were a pair of new millionaires minted in Tuesday’s Mega Millions draw. One player in Florida and one in Pennsylvania matched the five white balls drawn — 13, 19, 43, 62, and 64 — but failed to match the gold Mega Ball of 6.

The Florida player won $1 million before taxes, while the Pennsylvania player — who bought the winning ticket at a Kuhn’s Market in Pittsburgh — paid an extra dollar for the Megaplier, which tripled the winnings to $3 million before taxes.

Lottery Geeks estimates that just shy of 18 million tickets were sold for Tuesday’s draw, up slightly from the estimated 17.3 million sold for the previous draw, last Friday.

It’s been an ice-cold week on the Powerball streets, meanwhile. Neither Monday’s draw nor Wednesday’s draw crowned any million-dollar winners. In the latest draw, on Wednesday, the winning numbers were 19, 42, 45, 55, and 69 with a red Powerball of 6, and the top prize claimed was $100,000.

Tickets for either draw lottery are sold in 45 of 50 states — all but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah — as well as in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, and, for Powerball only, Puerto Rico.

All-Time Biggest Jackpots

Here is a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
3. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
4. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
5. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
6. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
7. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
8. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
9. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey
10. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California

And here’s the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value:

1. $997.6 million, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $983.5 million, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
3. $877.8 million, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
4. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
5. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
6. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
7. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
8. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
9. $621 million, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
10. $558.1 million, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California