The Lotto Matrix: Global Powerball And Still No Millionaires For Life

First things first

How much is Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing worth? Mega Millions continues its steady climb towards “Big Boy” status, entering the weekend with a $130 million jackpot that can also be had as a $58 million cash prize if chosen.

It was a relatively quiet last two drawings as only one ticket sold (in New York) matched five numbers and provided a $2 million payout. One point of note is there have been more 3x (11) and 4x (7) Megapliers for tickets that contained four numbers and the Mega Ball than those with the base 2x Megaplier (6) so far this month.

How much is Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing worth? Three rollovers later, and Saturday night’s Powerball jackpot is a tidy $75 million that carries a $34.1 million cash option.

Players in California last Saturday night and Colorado on Wednesday night came a red Powerball shy of the jackpot, with the winning ticket in the Golden State worth $2.2 million because it’s part of a parimutuel drawing. The winner sold in Colorado was the first seven-figure Powerball ticket sold in that state since someone matched five numbers for the Sept. 6 drawing. The Boulder State became the 22nd state or jurisdiction to have at least one Powerball millionaire this year.

I’m not internationally known …

While Powerball will not be rocking the microphone, its reach will go beyond the U.S. starting this summer when the United Kingdom will join the pool of eligible players for the thrice-weekly drawing.

The Multi-State Lottery Association and British counterpart Allwyn UK announced the deal Tuesday. The biggest difference when all those players across the pond are cleared to play? A near 20% jump in the number of eligible players, as the United Kingdom, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland have a combined 53 million citizens ages 18 and older.

The product of years of negotiations between the two sides as reported by Sky News’ Mark Kleinman, the deal will instantly launch lotto jackpot prizes across the United Kingdom to another level and challenge that of European counterpart EuroMillions. As a point of comparison to Saturday night’s upcoming $75 million Powerball jackpot, this past Wednesday night’s UK Lotto jackpot was worth £5.1 million ($6.9 million).

Many aspects of Powerball will remain the same for the individual parties. Most importantly, the $2 ticket price in the U.S. and £2 ($2.70) ticket price in the U.K. stay in place.

The lower-tier prize payout structure will remain unique to each group, and more than half the ticket cost will remain in the local jurisdiction to fund public programs. U.S.- and U.K.-based lotteries will pool money into the jackpot, which in theory should make those jackpots escalate more on a rollover-by-rollover basis.

“For decades, Powerball proceeds have provided real benefits to Americans, year after year. This will not change,” said Matt Strawn, Powerball product group chair and Iowa Lottery CEO. “This summer’s expansion to the U.K. helps secure the game’s future as a dependable source of funding for the public programs and services our players care about.”

The Millionaire wait continues still

The Multi-State Lottery Association’s newest game, Millionaire for Life, continues to wait on its first grand prize winner after 54 drawings. It also remains without even a second-place winner who would get $100,000 a year for life by matching five numbers.

Millionaire for Life is still a new game at less than eight weeks, and has an estimated average daily ticket sales total of 480,400. That comes out to a maximum of roughly 2.1% of all possible combinations being played for each drawing. That means there is a slightly better chance than 1 in 50 most nights someone will indeed match five numbers and the Millionaire Ball for that elusive first jackpot.

A day-by-day examination of the total payouts also revealed some statistical quirks. There has yet to be a day when the total worth of third-tier prizes — $7,500 for matching four numbers and the Millionaire Ball — has exceeded $100,000.

Additionally, there has yet to be a day when the combined overall payouts of all winning tickets reached $1 million. The closest was Feb. 27, when 72,534 winning tickets produced $953,774 in prize money. That day also provided the highest number of third-place winners as 13 tickets matched four numbers and the Millionaire Ball, accounting for $97,500 of the payout.

Tennessee Lottery checks in

The Tennessee Lottery reported a third-quarter transfer of $93.8 million to the state’s Lottery for Education account Thursday as the first three quarters of the fiscal year have seen a 3.5% increase in total net proceeds compared to the same period last year.

“As they have for more than 20 years, students and families across the state continue to benefit from valuable scholarships, grants and after-school programs funded with lottery dollars,” said Lottery President and CEO Rebecca Paul.

“The economic vitality of Tennessee relies on keeping the best and brightest talent in-state, and we are proud to be part of making that a reality.”

The most recent transfer lifted the total amount of all state-lottery-funded programs since inception above $8 billion.

Newsworthy Nuggets

Michigan man does the double: A Muskegon man has made it two lottery wins in as many years after claiming the top prize in the Michigan Lottery’s Millionaire Raffle drawn March 26.

The 47-year-old player, who wished to remain anonymous, told Michigan Lottery officials he liked the odds of the Millionaire Raffle, which is limited to 100,000 tickets. He split a Fantasy 5 jackpot in February 2025 that paid out $366,984.

“I honestly thought it was some sort of technical error where an incorrect prize notification was sent, so I decided to check back in the morning,” said the man, who plans to invest his winnings. “I logged in the next day, and to my surprise, the $1 million prize was still pending in my account. I’m still trying to process that I’m here again claiming another huge prize!”

It’s deja vu all over again: The double winners are not limited to Michigan, as the Missouri Lottery reported a player claimed a second jackpot win in a three-year span. The man, who also wished to remain anonymous, won a $242,000 prize in the Show Me Cash drawing March 26 by matching the numbers 17, 20, 25, 30, and 39.

“I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’” he told lottery officials with a laugh. “I couldn’t believe I won the first time. I guess anything’s possible.”

Our winner, who also won the jackpot in 2024, said he would only play “Show Me Cash” when the progressive jackpot was more than $200,000.

Where is the biggest active individual state lotto jackpot? Finally, there is some change to the top five state-run lottery jackpots as there were two winning tickets sold for Monday night’s $11.6 million Megabucks drawing in Oregon. California is the new entrant at $12 million following a pair of rollovers.

The top two remain the same in Texas ($40.5 million) and Indiana ($19.3 million). The Lone Star State’s cash option of $22.1 million for Saturday night’s drawing would also lead on its own.

Florida moved up one spot for the second consecutive week, taking the final podium spot with $16 million up for grabs Saturday night. Massachusetts is now fourth with a $15.5 million drawing this weekend that carries a $10.2 million cash option.

Lastly, it is now 108 rollovers and counting for the multi-state Lotto America, which stands at $22.28 million for Saturday night. The cash option has finally reached eight figures at $10.13 million, looking for a first winner since the Aug. 6 drawing had a winning ticket sold in South Dakota for a $4 million jackpot.

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