The Lotto Matrix: Farthing’s New Folly And Millionaire For Life Set For Debut

First things first

How much is Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing worth? Our “Big Boy” is making his way toward “Grown Man” status as another two rollovers sweetened the jackpot to $416 million. The cash option is also getting swole, climbing to $193.1 million.

It was a quiet week on the second-tier prize font. There have been three drawings without anyone matching five numbers, and the last two have seen only 13 tickets match four numbers with the Mega Ball. One of those tickets, though, did have a 10x multiplier for a $100,000 payout.

The estimated number of tickets per drawing sold continues to be above six million, with Tuesday night’s drawing believed to be near 6.5 million. That means ticket sales have likely averaged $30 million or more for each of the last six drawings.

How much is Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing worth? Another week without a winner, and Powerball is a few steps closer to “Big Boy” status with a jackpot of $190 million in the offering. The cash option has gone up by nearly one-third in that three-drawing span to $89.1 million.

The streak of drawings with at least one millionaire has reached eight as four tickets contained all five non-Powerball numbers. The ticket sold in Tennessee for Wednesday night’s drawing had the power play option ticked for a $2 million payday, making it seven double payouts out of 23 instances in 2026.

The estimated amount of tickets sold averaged more than 10 million for the last three drawings, which was buoyed by last Saturday’s estimate of 13.3 million tickets based on the 533,604 winners. That is usually the case as Saturday drawings tend to attract larger sales.

Again with this guy

Powerball winner James Farthing is back in the news, and once more, it is not for a good reason.

Farthing, who split a $167.3 million jackpot with his mother April 26, 2025 was charged Feb. 11 in Scott County in Kentucky with intimidating a participant in the legal process. WKYT-TV reported Farthing had picked up a woman as part of a “pre-arranged meet-up,” and the woman felt pressured by him to take a gummy. At that point, she called authorities from the home they were at, claiming “people there had a weapon and wanted to hurt her.”

Police found marijuana and a gun at the scene. As they were talking to the woman, Farthing allegedly texted her, “Why would you do this to me? Unreal. I’d never hurt you.” It is the seventh overall arrest for Farthing, who was arrested in Florida two days after claiming his Powerball jackpot for an alleged assault on a police officer.

He opted to serve his jail sentence for that charge, which also was a violation of his parole, and was released last June. Farthing, who has now been arrested seven times, is due back in court April 2 for his latest charge.

Millionaire for Life begins this weekend

Sunday marks the first drawing of the Millionaire for Life game, which will replace previous titles Lucky for Life and Cash4Life in multiple states. The daily drawing, which goes off at 11:15 p.m. ET nightly, requires players who pay $5 per ticket to match five white-colored balls numbered 1-58 and the green “Millionaire Ball,” which is numbered 1-5.

The grand prize, just like the title says, is $1 million a year for life. But for those with immediate gratification issues, a cash option does exist, and it is worth $18 million. The odds of winning are 1 in slightly more than 22.9 million, which is roughly 12.7 times better than the 1 in 290 million-plus odds for winning either the Mega Millions or Powerball jackpots.

There are nine prizes available every drawing, with a pretty strong second-tier prize of $100,000 a year for life — or cash option of $2.2 million — for matching the five non-Millionaire balls. The overall odds of winning any prize, which starts at $8 for matching either one number and the Millionaire Ball or two white balls, is 1 in approximately 8.5.

Persistence finally pays off

It took 22 years, but an Ohio man finally won big with the six numbers he has played since the early 2000s in claiming the $3.5 million Classic Lotto jackpot from the Feb. 4 drawing.

The man, who wished to remain anonymous and also has a residence out of state, told Ohio Lottery officials he continued to play 6-8-16-20-26-45 because “he was stubborn.” For drawings when he was not in the Buckeye State, the man would get his friend to play $10 worth of tickets per month.

Our winner opted for the $1.7 million cash option, which netted close to $1.3 million after state and federal withholdings. He plans on buying a new house and creating a home gym in addition to “getting a really big pool!”

Newsworthy Nuggets

Wyoming considers allowing players to use debit cards for lottery tickets: Cowboy State legislators are considering a bill that would allow lottery players the ability to use their debit cards to purchase lottery tickets. Wyoming is currently the only state that has no electronic method for purchase; Tennessee also does not take debit cards, but the state lottery has an app that accepts Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments.

Similar legislation had been considered previously but is gaining traction this session after the Wyoming State Liquor Association was able to get all three of its major asks via a resolution passed by the Wyoming Lottery. The most notable one is the state lottery covering the transaction costs with players using debit cards for purchase.

Senate File 24, which passed out of the House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee, will now be heard by the full lower chamber.

Oregon Lottery earns highest WLA Responsible Gaming certification: The Oregon Lottery announced Tuesday it received the World Lottery Association’s highest level of certification for its “Responsible Gaming/Safer Play” program. The state agency obtained the Level 4 certification for the third consecutive time, having also obtained the three-year status in both 2018 and 2021.

“Maintaining our WLA Level Four certification for more than eight years demonstrates our commitment to continuous improvement in Safer Play,” said Mike Wells, director of the Oregon Lottery. “To keep pace with a fast-evolving gambling market, we have responded with innovation and will continue to focus on trust with our players.”

Where is the biggest active individual state lotto jackpot? Can somebody please win a big state jackpot? The Lotto Matrix maintains the status quo for a third straight week for our top five prizes, led by California ($30 million) and Texas ($24.25 million). The cash options for those wanting to make impulse purchases are $13.9 million and $13.6 million, respectively.

The Hoosier Lotto in Indiana again stays on the podium in third, offering a $13.9 million jackpot. Massachusetts ($12.25 million) and Oregon ($9 million) continue to give chase while completing the top five.

The thrice-weekly Lotto America drawing is offering a $15.8 million jackpot that has a $7.4 million cash option. This will be the 85th 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!