The Lotto Matrix: Illinois Is The Land Of Jackpots

First Things First

How much is Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing worth? Our “Grown Man” found a good home in Illinois on Tuesday, so the jackpot is at the base $50 million with a $22.9 million cash option for the time being.

In addition to the jackpot-winning ticket being sold in the Land of Lincoln, someone else in the state matched five numbers and had a 5x multiplier, leading to a $5 million windfall. There have been two tickets to sync five numbers with a 5x Megaplier in the last five drawings; only one such ticket was sold in all of 2025 after the mid-April price increase.

How much is Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing worth? Powerball offers a pedestrian $75 million jackpot, but looking at it in a positive light, that has more than doubled from last Saturday night’s $35 million kitty. In an impressive two-day run by Illinois multi-state lottery players, one of two tickets that matched five numbers from Wednesday night’s drawing hails from there.

More Mega tidbits

Other fun facts from Tuesday’s $533 million jackpot being won with a ticket purchased in Illinois:

• It is the fifth time in a near five-year span Illinois can claim a Mega Millions jackpot winner.
• The 28 drawings since a $90 million jackpot was claimed in New Jersey on Dec. 2 resulted in $38 million in ticket sales in Illinois.
• It is the second time an Illinois player won a Mega Millions jackpot playing via online purchase. The first winner from June 2024 still holds the U.S. record for an online lottery with a $552 million jackpot.
• The estimated 9.5 million-plus tickets sold for Tuesday night’s drawing was easily a high for Mega Millions in 2026, with the previous high 7.9 million for last Friday night’s drawing.
• Based on the math, Tuesday night’s drawing was likely the first time this year ticket sales resulted in more than 3% of all 290,472,366 combinations being played.

Still waiting on that first Millionaire for Life

The new Millionaire for Life game is now zero for 19 drawings in terms of either a grand prize or a second-prize winner, after a rather quiet Thursday night. Only three tickets matched four numbers and the Millionaire Ball for a $7,500 payout, and the Feb. 27 drawing that had 13 such winners remains the high point in terms of top prizes.

Estimated daily ticket sales have averaged more than $2.5 million this month, with only the March 5 drawing appearing to top $3 million. Estimated ticket sales in terms of volume topped 500,000 on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For the hopeful among us, total third-tier payouts should top $1 million come the new week.

Colorado ponders credit card ban

Colorado SB 117, which would reverse a recently enacted Colorado Lottery rule that allows ticket purchases via credit card, narrowly passed its first legislative hurdle Monday by advancing out of the Senate Finance Committee by a 5-4 vote.

The bill would also prevent the lottery from setting up an app for direct sales and ban lottery ticket sales through couriers. Another point that will likely be debated as the legislation winds through the state’s upper chamber was testimony — not from the Colorado Lottery Commission — that the agency would collect player data to monitor spending.

Bill co-sponsor and state Sen. Jeff Bridges was one of 25 lawmakers who signed a letter last November asking the state agency not to make the rule change. SB 117 faces headwinds as it moves forward, the strongest being a likely veto by Gov. Jared Polis according to Colorado Politics.

How do you like those apples?

Boston.com reported the first of three $25 million top prizes for the Massachusetts Lottery’s Mega Money scratch-off has been claimed. Trustee Renat Lumpau, representing Open Door Trust, claimed a pre-tax, lump-sum payment of $16.25 million.

The $50 scratcher was bought at Cumberland Farms in Turner Falls, which is approximately 20 miles from the Vermont border. The store will receive a $50,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket.

In addition to the two remaining $25 million top prizes, three $2 million prizes and eight $1 million scores can still be won.

Newsworthy Nuggets

This is why you keep your tickets where you can find them: An Oklahoma couple belatedly discovered they had won a $1 million second prize in the Nov. 22 Powerball drawing in part because they kept the ticket somewhere within reach.

According to The Oklahoman, the couple had the ticket amid a pile of clutter on the kitchen table. The husband, who identified himself to lottery officials as “Robert from Noble,” said his wife only began to go through the pile earlier this month.

She saw the ticket and put it aside. The couple scanned the ticket together later that evening and discovered they had matched the numbers 28-32-36-51-69 for the seven-figure payday. The couple, who recently began looking for land to own as part of building a home, are now able to move much faster on those plans.

Meanwhile, across the pond …: The National Lottery confirmed Wednesday a ticket holder in the United Kingdom won Tuesday night’s £181 million ($239.8 million USD) EuroMillions jackpot. Allwyn, which operates EuroMillions, said it is the third-largest win in UK National Lottery history.

Where is the biggest active individual state lotto jackpot? There is some change atop the top five leaderboard heading into the weekend, but everyone is still looking up at Texas. The Lone Star State has $30 million up for grabs, with a cash option of $16.6 million available.

Indiana ($15.8 million) and Massachusetts ($13.55 million) continue to occupy the other podium spots, while California slides back in at the No. 4 spot with a $10 million jackpot. The Lotto Matrix is never too old to learn something new, and this week’s lesson is Oregon‘s Megabucks rolls over $100,000 per drawing. Thus, while Saturday’s $9.9 million jackpot is good enough for the fifth spot, it would take one more rollover to reach eight figures.

Three more rollovers have pushed the Lotto America jackpot to $18.15 million, and the cash option is $8.25 million heading into the 94th drawing since a winning ticket was sold in South Dakota for a $4 million jackpot Aug. 6.

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