Mega Millions Gearing Up For Third Drawing Under New Odds

Will the third time be the charm for Mega Millions lottery players? 

Probably not, as the odds Tuesday night to win the big jackpot — which is estimated at $96 million, with a $42.2 million cash value — are still a pretty whopping 1 in 290,472,336 after the switch to the $5 price point for tickets two drawings ago. Those odds, for those scoring at home, are down from 1 in 302,575,350.

To give some idea of the luck involved in winning this thing, under the $2 ticket rules, the odds were basically this: Kick California out of the nation, and the population of America is about 302 million. So under the old odds, exclude people living in California, and then pick one random person from the remaining 49 states. The odds of being that random person were the same as winning Mega Millions.

With the new odds? We can eliminate residents of Georgia from our little thought experiment, and … there’s your new odds of winning, bub.

But, as with all things lottery, someone’s going to win eventually, and … well, we here at Lottery Geeks hope it’s us and our little office klatch. If not? Sure, why not, you can have it.

No one took it Friday, when the winning numbers were 15, 37, 38, 56, 58, and a gold Mega Ball of 19. There was a Match 5 winner in Michigan — good thing we didn’t kick them out of our population game above! — and their Megaplier came in at 3x, which means they won $3 million for matching all five white balls. That was the first million-dollar-plus win of the new $5 era.

All told, Lottery Geeks estimates 5 million tickets were sold for Friday’s drawing — pretty much identical to the estimated sales for the drawing that preceded it.

Powerball passes $100 million again

Powerball’s Wednesday jackpot is up to $113 million with a $50.6 million cash value after nobody won Monday’s drawing.

The numbers for Monday were 3, 20, 30, 52, 62, and a red Powerball of 1. The Power Play number came in at 3x, and one New York ticket-buyer is $3 million richer as a result of spending up for the multiplier and matching all five white balls.

Lottery Geeks estimates 7.3 million tickets were sold for Monday’s drawing.

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