Mega Millions Gears Up For Its Second Drawing At $5 Price Point

If the past is prologue, Friday is going to be another big night for the bean counters over at Mega Millions HQ.

The jackpot sits at a relatively modest estimated $72 million (with a $34.3 million cash option) for the drawing, but of course the big news is this will be the second drawing at the new $5 price point.

And as Lottery Geeks reported earlier this week, the debut of the fiver ticket was a rousing success. While the estimated number of tickets sold fell by 45%, the estimated cash generated by ticket sales came in at a hair over $25 million — or an 18% increase over the final $2 drawing.

Of course, one night does not make a trend, but early returns are clearly promising — especially considering the prize money doled out was significantly higher than usual.

In fact, players collectively won $3.4 million more than they would have under the old rules, due to the Megaplier option — which increases non-jackpot prizes either by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, or 10x — being built into every ticket sold. According to a press release from Mega Millions, under the old rules, there would’ve been $840,628 in non-jackpot prizes handed out for Tuesday’s drawing. But with the new rules, $4.3 million was won.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled for our players and for how the new game is being received,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium. “As players are coming into grocery stores, convenience stores, and lottery offices today to collect prizes that are two, three, four, five, and 10 times what they’ve seen in the past, it’s putting a smile on their faces, because that’s real, everyday money to most people. This is why the game change matters; it’s providing value to our players at every prize level and at every drawing.”

Powerball powers up

Powerball’s Saturday jackpot is up to an estimated $82 million, with a $39.6 million cash value. In addition to nobody winning the top prize Wednesday, there were also no Match 5 winners.

The winning numbers were 4, 29, 37, 55, 67, and a red Powerball of 10.

Lottery Geeks estimates 8.1 million tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing, up from 7.3 million from Monday’s drawing. Of course, these drawings were sandwiched around Mega Millions’ move to $5. 

Tickets for Mega Millions cost $5, while Powerball tickets cost $2, with most states offering the multiplier option for Powerball — which impacts any prize won except the jackpot — for an additional $1. Mega Millions comes with an automatic multiplier for any prize except the jackpot.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Tickets for both draw games are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, customers can buy tickets for Powerball, but not for Mega Millions.

All-time biggest jackpots

Here is a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
3. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
4. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
5. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
6. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
7. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
8. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
9. $1.22 billion, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California
10. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey

And here’s the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value:

1. $997.6 million, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $983.5 million, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
3. $877.8 million, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
4. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
5. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
6. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
7. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
8. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
9. $621 million, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon
10. $571.9 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California