The Lotto Matrix: And Now, The Comedown

First things first

How much is Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing worth? Mega Millions now has the spotlight to itself and continues to be a growing “Big Boy” with $381 million at stake. The cash option is a tidy $175 million. It also continues to be the highest Mega Millions jackpot since the introduction of the $5 ticket in April.

The last two drawings without a jackpot winner provided varied results. Tuesday night’s drawing provided the first Mega Millions millionaire of September as a ticket in California matched five numbers and paid out $3 million thanks to the random Megaplier.

Last Friday’s drawing had 17 tickets match four numbers and the Mega Ball, resulting in $420,000 in winnings. That was the highest volume of tickets at the $20,000 or more level for matching four numbers and the Mega Ball among the 21 drawings since a player in Virginia struck the $348 million jackpot on June 27.

How much is Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing worth? Maybe it wasn’t the big Powerball jackpot we’ll remember, but the friends we made along the way. Saturday’s drawing is for $50 million, which — yeah — feels like chump change after the breathless coverage in recent weeks. The cash option is $23.4 million.

Beyond the two winners who split the $1.79 billion jackpot, last Saturday’s drawing had plenty of second-tier prize payouts. A total of 20 tickets came within the Powerball of sharing the jackpot, resulting in $22 million in payouts, as two people had the 2x Power Play option.

Another 322 tickets had four numbers and the Powerball. Those people will have some consolation to go with the lament of being so close as the combined payout from those tickets was $20.6 million. Ninety players who came one number shy ticked the Power Play option for a $100,000 payout versus the $50,000 standard prize.

Some internal ninja napkin math

Colleague Eric Raskin provided the unofficial Lottery Geeks estimate of 10.5 million tickets sold for last Friday’s Mega Millions. That is roughly 4% of the estimated 258.3 million tickets sold for last Saturday night’s Powerball.

This weekend will be an interesting litmus test of sorts for Mega Millions: Will players who have long resisted the $5 price point finally gravitate their way to the only multi-state lottery with a notable nine-figure prize at stake, or will it continue to be a slow upward climb in sales?

What’s the deal with West Virginia?

It’s not exactly “You’ve lost another submarine?” from The Hunt for Red October, but million-dollar Powerball winners are going missing and/or undetected in the Mountaineer State on levels equal to Captain Marko Ramius.

This space put out public service announcements the last two weeks echoing the West Virginia Lottery’s calls for the person who matched five numbers in the March 12 Powerball drawing for $1 million to claim that prize before Monday’s deadline.

Well, Monday came and went, and the state agency did not divulge whether that person or persons came forward in its press releases this week. The Lotto Matrix made a call to the West Virginia Lottery to see if there is a happy ending to this story, but did not hear back before this column was published.

Meanwhile, it did announce Tuesday that another $1 million Powerball ticket, this one sold at Mardi Gras Casino in Cross Lanes in May, has also yet to be claimed. The winner has until Nov. 8 to collect their winnings.

That’ll get you plenty of chowdah

WCVB-TV in Boston reported Thursday the first of three $10 million grand prizes in the Massachusetts Lottery’s 200X scratch-off has been claimed.

Sarah Newton of Pittsfield, which is less than 10 miles from the New York-Massachusetts border, purchased the $20 scratcher at Convenience Plus on Housatonic Street. Newton opted for the one-time, lump-sum payout of $6.5 million before taxes, which she said will go toward buying a house and helping take care of her family.

In addition to the two remaining $10 million grand prizes, the 200X scratch-off still has five $1 million prizes available.

New Hampshire First With Wheel Spin Spectacular

The New Hampshire Lottery became the first state lottery to launch IWG’s Wheel Spin Spectacular, an interactive eInstant game title. With a top prize of $600,000, Wheel Spin offers player-selected outcomes that include options of multipliers and bonus features.

“Wheel Spin Spectacular introduces a new style of play for our eInstant portfolio,” said Kelley-Jaye Cleland, Chief Product & Program Officer, New Hampshire Lottery. “The game combines a classic wheel mechanic with interactive features that we believe will appeal to both existing players and new audiences. We appreciate IWG’s partnership in developing this innovative addition to our lineup.”

The two sides recently agreed on a two-year contract extension in August and have a partnership dating back to 2020.

“We are thrilled to see New Hampshire Lottery becoming the first to introduce Wheel Spin Spectacular,” said IWG Executive Vice President Jason Lisiecki. “This game represents the next evolution of eInstants, combining familiar gameplay mechanics with innovative features that will resonate with players. We look forward to bringing this exciting new format to lotteries worldwide.”

I’m a Tar Heel born, I’m a Tar Heel bred

The North Carolina Education Lottery announced Wednesday it raised more than $1 billion for the third consecutive fiscal year. The $1.07 billion raised in FY 2025 was keyed by record ticket sales totaling $6.6 billion for the 12-month period ending June 30. That helped the state agency surpass its funding goal by $141 million.

“At the lottery, we are driven by our goal to make a positive impact on the lives of North Carolinians,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the North Carolina Education Lottery. “The lottery has come a long way from raising $325 million for education in fiscal year 2007, to more than $1 billion a year today. The lottery’s continued innovation through the years to meet the needs of our players will help us to continue to meet the needs of our great state.”

Newsworthy nuggets

Who has the biggest active individual state lotto jackpot in the land? It’s still Texas, and it’s still not close, after another two rollovers in the Lone Star State bumped Saturday night’s jackpot to $54.5 million with a cash option of $30.6 million.

California continues to hold down the No. 2 slot at $42 million, and there’s a $19.4 million cash option in play. The Lotto Matrix did some napkin math here and determined there needs to be 17 concurrent rollovers in both states for California to overtake Texas for the largest jackpot.

Florida, meanwhile, is inching closer to the two of them while remaining on the podium in third at $33.5 million. New Jersey is again fourth with a $14 million jackpot up for grabs, and the Lotto47 in Michigan is $50,000 shy of an eight-figure jackpot at $9.95 million to round out the top five.

The multi-state Lotto America has a $2.75 million jackpot with a cash option of $1.28 million available Saturday night.

Until next week, dream big, check your numbers, keep your tickets where you can find them, and play responsibly!