No Lottery Luck Needed: Metallica Invests Real Money In Real Skills

Here’s a number that’s not up for grabs for Tuesday’s Mega Millions or Wednesday’s Powerball: $13.5 million.

That is the amount of money the Metallica Scholars Initiative has donated over the past six years since it started, including a $3 million donation that was announced Monday.

What is the Metallica Scholars Initiative? Direct from the website: “A major workforce education program that provides direct support to community colleges to enhance their career and technical education curricula. These courses provide skills and services to students looking to enter a conventional trade or other applied learning program.”

Pretty metal, eh?

“When we launched the Metallica Scholars Initiative, it really spoke to me,” James Hetfield, Metallica frontman, said on the site. “A collective goal of breaking the stigma of trade skills. Trade skills are vital to society, and what’s even more important is to support the many folks who are trying to create a career by learning and using these skills.”

Awesome. Love it. As thanks to the fellas, here’s an AI-assisted take on one of Metallica’s best songs, “Battery,” the leadoff to their best album ever (IMHO), Master of Puppets. 

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the first verse and chorus of “Lottery.“

Cashing in the ticket, believing it’s the big hit, hope is pumped and on display.

Hypnotizing numbers, jackpot fever thunders, Lottery is here to stay.

Scratching past the limits, jackpot super digits, cannot stop the Lottery.

Numbers bring excitement, turns into enlightenment, cannot kill the Lottery.

Cannot kill the fantasy, Lottery is part of me.

Lottery! Lot-ter-y.

Scratching past the boundaries, fortune now surrounds me, cannot stop the Lottery.

Numbers bring elation, turns to dedication, cannot kill the Lottery.

Cannot kill the fantasy, lottery is found in me!

Lottery!

Wednesday night’s Powerball is up to an estimated $325 million after nobody won Monday’s drawing. Wednesday’s draw will be the 23rd since the last time the jackpot hit.

Monday’s numbers — 8, 11, 28, 33, 42, and a red Powerball of 2 — yielded a pair of Match 5 winners, one in California and the other in Georgia.

Lottery Geeks estimates 9.3 million tickets were sold for Monday’s drawing.

Mega Tuesday

Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing — the sixth since the last winner was crowned — will be for $110 million.

Nobody won Friday’s drawing — numbers 11, 43, 54, 55, 63 and a gold Mega ball of 3. No one matched all five white balls.

Lottery Geeks estimates 4.8 million tickets were sold.

Tickets for Mega Millions cost $5, while Powerball tickets cost $2, with most states offering the multiplier option for Powerball — which impacts any prize won except the jackpot — for an additional $1. Mega Millions comes with an automatic multiplier for any prize except the jackpot.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Tickets for both draw games are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, customers can buy tickets for Powerball, but not for Mega Millions.

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. $1.22 billion, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California
10. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey

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. $571.9 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California