The Lotto Matrix: What Do You Mean Another Mega Winner?

First Things First

How much is Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing worth? For the second consecutive Friday, the jackpot is the base $50 million with a $22.6 million cash option. An Ohio player truly had the luck of the green on St. Patrick’s Day, matching all five numbers and the Mega Ball to claim a $60 million jackpot.

The winning ticket was sold at Tyler’s Short Stop, located at 714 E. Main St. in Van Wert, approximately 80 miles southwest of Toledo. The Ohio Lottery pointed out in its release the Buckeye State is home to 22 Mega Millions jackpot winners since its inception and another 65 tickets have generated payouts of $1 million or higher.

In addition to jackpot fever, there was a Mega Millions first from last Friday night’s drawing. A ticket sold in Florida matched five numbers and contained the 10x Megaplier, resulting in the highest non-jackpot prize available, $10 million.

There have been 11 second- and third-prize payouts with the 10x Megaplier this year, matching the total for all of 2025 following the mid-April changeover.

How much is Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing worth? There were no jackpot winners the last three Powerball drawings, which has bumped the grand prize to $120 million with a $54.6 million cash option. Six tickets matched five numbers without the Powerball in that stretch, with Monday night’s winner in North Carolina collecting $2 million for ticking the Power Play option.

Luck truly was a lady in this case

The Illinois Lottery reported Wednesday the winner of the $536 million Mega Millions jackpot from the March 10 drawing came forward to claim her prize. The winner wished to remain anonymous and was identified as “Lucky Lady.”

Lucky Lady, who also is the winner of the second-largest jackpot via an online ticket purchase, said she selected a Quick Pick and shuffled the numbers several times before settling on 16, 21, 30, 35, 65 — and Mega Ball 7 — to win.

“I didn’t even plan to play that day — I had actually tried to buy a ticket online a week earlier, but I forgot to finalize the purchase,” she told lottery officials. “I even joked with my boss that day, saying, ‘It wasn’t meant to go through.’

“I couldn’t believe it. I was shaking and telling myself, ‘This can’t be real,’” she said after realizing she had won. “I had my daughter call one of the claim centers to confirm, but it still feels unreal.” Lucky Lady plans on fulfilling one of her dreams of buying a family house with a swimming pool with some of her winnings.

The Illinois Lottery said $34 million worth of Mega Millions tickets was sold in the state from the first drawing Dec. 5 to the jackpot win, resulting in $13 million for the Common School Fund.

The return of ‘As The Texas Lottery Turns’

To be clear, there is no current dysfunction in the Lone Star State. Instead, the Sydney Morning Herald is bringing us back to how it all started — the $95 million jackpot won by a syndicate in April 2023.

Croatian Zeljko Ranogajec, considered one of the world’s wealthiest gamblers, told the Australian newspaper he funded part of the $25 million cost for buying all the possible combinations for the drawing, which remains under investigation by the Texas Rangers.

Ranogajec, also known as “The Joker,” said he is part of group that makes approximately $10 billion worth of gambles annually. He said he had no role in the logistics that led to the purchase of all the tickets, but noted, “The Texas Lottery Commission facilitated the play by providing terminals, paper, and ink. It would not have been possible to operate at this scale without full cooperation.”

The most impressive logistical feat was buying that many tickets in a 72-hour span, considering the amount purchased comes to approximately 100 per second. Ranogajec said the Texas Lottery Commission provided dozens of terminals and the buyers had QR codes they hooked up to the terminals and began printing tickets at that dizzying pace.

Members of the syndicate were in a hotel room in Texas with 150 boxes worth of tickets. When the drawing was held, the search was on, and there was much cheering when it was found. The partnership, known as ROOK TX, brought the winning ticket to the TLC and opted for the cash payout of $57 million. That netted Ranogajec and friends approximately $32 million.

Still waiting on that first Millionaire for Life

It is now 26 drawings without either a grand-prize or second-prize winner for the new Millionaire for Life game, after another week of drawings lacking tickets matching five numbers and the Millionaire Ball or just the five numbers drawn.

Even the third prize of $7,500 for matching four numbers and the Millionaire Ball proved challenging to attain, as the last seven drawings provided only 36 such winners. That included a near shutout Thursday night when one ticket had any combination of 7-35-55-56-57 and 4 as the Millionaire Ball.

Estimated average daily ticket sales continue to surpass $2 million, and last Friday saw the first likelihood of $3 million-plus with 73,195 winners. Multiply that count by the 8.46-to-1 odds in winning any prize, and an estimated 619,230 tickets were sold.

Newsworthy Nuggets

London calling: The National Lottery in England is on the hunt for the winner of a £10.6 million ($14.2 million USD) ticket, who has until April 2 to redeem it. The agency said the winning ticket was purchased in the London borough of Bexley for the Oct. 4 drawing and matched the numbers 06-08-12-33-49-59.

Allway, which operates the National Lottery, sent a representative to the area with a megaphone and van with digitally powered signage to bring attention to the matter.

“Do you live in Bexley or were you in and around the area in the week leading up to the draw?” said Andy Carter to The Independent. “Tell your friends, ask your family, or use it as an excuse to spring clean. I want nothing more than to unite our missing winner with their prize and make them our latest millionaire. It could be you!”

Who’s my new bestest lucky friend? A woman in upstate South Carolina pulled off a monumental run of scratcher luck earlier this month. She purchased four tickets for a combined $20 and a soda at the Stop-A-Minit in Liberty.

The first two tickets covered her spend on the tickets, and the third put her $5 ahead. The fourth, however, resulted in a $200,000 windfall when she claimed the third of four grand prizes of the Neon Jackpot scratcher.

“When it sinks in, I can let you know how it feels,” the winner told lottery officials, adding she plans on buying a house with her winnings. “I still haven’t wrapped my brain around it.”

Where is the biggest active individual state lotto jackpot? It was another week of status quo among the top three as Texas ($32 million), Indiana ($16.5 million), and Massachusetts ($14.1 million) held steady with multiple rollovers during the week.

Oregon‘s Megabucks slides into fourth at $10.2 million, cracking eight figures over the weekend and heading into a 93rd drawing since a millwright in the Eugene area won $8.1 million from the Aug. 16 drawing. Florida rounds out the top five this week at $9.25 million after someone won Saturday night’s $10 million SuperLotto Plus jackpot in California.

Another three rollovers have increased the Lotto America jackpot to $19.19 million and the cash option is $8.73 million heading into the 97th 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!