The Lotto Matrix: Look At Our Grown-Up Mega Millions, And More!

First things first

How much is Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing worth? For the first time in the $5 ticket era, our Mega Millions is a “Grown Man” with a $520 million jackpot that carries a notable cash option of $240.1 million.

One ray of optimism for players is that both drawings last week had tickets that matched five numbers without the Mega Ball. There were $2 million winners in California and Virginia. Another 11 tickets contained four numbers and the Mega Ball, paying out a combined $340,000 in winnings.

There have been 27 drawings since a player in Virginia matched all numbers for the $348 million jackpot June 27.

How much is Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing worth? Still growing by smaller leaps and bounds, the drawing for $195 million can also be claimed as a cash option worth $90.5 million.

There were five newly minted millionaires over the last two drawings — players failed to match all five non-Powerball numbers last Saturday — from tickets purchased in Georgia, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Washington. Another 43 aligned four numbers and the Powerball, which led to $3.2 million in payouts.

There have been 11 rollovers since the Sept. 6 drawing worth $1.787 billion — the second-largest in U.S. jackpot lottery history — was split by winners in Missouri and Texas.

September Napkin Math, Mega Edition

With the Mega Millions jackpot in clearly uncharted territory in terms of the $5 price point era, The Lotto Matrix was curious to see how 2025 stacked up versus 2024 in September for second-tier prize payouts. Those qualify as tickets matching the five non-Mega Ball numbers or four numbers plus the Mega Ball.

It should be noted this cannot be called a true year-over-year comparison. Grand prize jackpots are fluid from drawing to drawing in terms of the overall amount and the jackpot increases accompanying each rollover.

Additionally, the $5 price point — for better or worse — continues to be a line of demarcation for some people who opt to play Mega Millions or Powerball versus Mega Millions and Powerball. Lastly, there were not the same amount of drawings, with nine Mega Millions drawings this September compared to eight in 2024.

The immediate statistic standing out is the number of near-jackpot winners last year compared to this year. Twelve of those 24 winning tickets came in the first three drawings of the month chasing an eventual $800 million jackpot won Sept. 10, 2024. But what also stands out this year is the average payout on those five-number tickets with the random Megaplier applied at $2.33 million versus $1.33 million in 2024.

This also holds true for players who claimed five-figure sums getting four numbers and the Mega Ball correct. Slightly less than one out of every four tickets last year had the Megaplier option checked, and the $10,000 base prize averaged out to $15,464. Because the base prize this year is essentially $20,000 because the lowest Megaplier is 2x and applied on all tickets, that average jumped to $30,299.

In turn, the new version of Mega Millions has better prize disbursement for these two categories: This September saw a roughly 78-22 split in terms of percentage compared to 92-8 in 2024.

Pollard Banknote goes prime time

The California Lottery has made Pollard Banknote the primary contractor for the Golden State’s “Scratchers Products and Related Services.” The announcement came at the California Lottery’s last meeting Sept. 25, as the two sides agreed to a six-year contract that contains an option for another six years.

Pollard Banknote, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, had served as a secondary contractor in California for 25 years. The step up to primary means it will provide the state with roughly 70% of all scratchers played over the next six years. Its best-selling scratcher in California is Mystery Crossword, which has generated $6 billion in sales since launch and was the most popular scratch-off in the state last year.

“We are extremely excited to expand our relationship with one of the largest and most successful lotteries in the world,” Doug Pollard, the company’s co-chief executive officer, said in a statement. “This expansion into the role of primary contractor marks an exciting new chapter in a decades-long partnership that has delivered a range of innovative and groundbreaking instant ticket experiences to raise funds for public education.

“As the Lottery celebrates its milestone 40^th anniversary, we are thrilled to deepen our collaboration and look forward to many more years of shared success providing fun and engaging entertainment to Californians.”

Meet the Ace of Alaska

Of all the Northern Lights, Jeremy Whitmore of Juneau is shining the brightest.

Whitmore claimed a whopping $17.4 million by winning the grand prize of Lotto Alaska’s Chase the Ace, a two-part lottery in which weekly winners get a chance to claim a progressive jackpot if the window they choose turns up the ace of spades card.

Whitmore purchased his ticket Tuesday ahead of last Sunday evening’s drawing. The prize comes to 20% of the week’s ticket sales but also advanced him to win the lottery jackpot in which a player chooses one of 54 windows on the Chase The Ace board. A player who gets the ace of spades wins the jackpot.

Whitmore told KTUU/KTVF he’s gone “from shock to sleeplessness to wondering what the hell we’re going to do next” with his winnings, which Lotto Alaska believes to be its largest payout in state history. He and his wife have discussed paying off the mortgage and family debt, but Whitmore has no plans on giving up his mining job just yet.

Newsworthy nuggets

Who has the biggest active individual state lotto jackpot in the land? It was a quiet week for state-run lotteries as our top five remain unchanged heading into this weekend.

The watch for a first winner of the Texas Lotto under the Department of Licensing and Regulation continues as the jackpot is at $62.5 million with a $34.8 million cash option.

The Lone Star State put more distance between itself and second-place California, which offers $48 million or a $22.2 million cash option. New Jersey maintains the final podium spot, climbing to $17.7 million with an $8.19 million cash option. Michigan and Ohio again complete this quintet at $13.15 million and $8.7 million, respectively.

The multi-state Lotto America, meanwhile, has a $4.07 million jackpot with a cash option of $1.88 million available Saturday night.

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