Mushrooming Mega Millions Jackpot Reaches $740 Million For Friday Drawing

If you’re looking to corner the global market for shiitake mushrooms, here’s a tip: Win Mega Millions Friday night.

As it turns out, the market cap (pun intended) for shiitake mushrooms is $740 million a year, which happens to be the amount a winner could take home should they be the sole winner of the drawing. (Yes, yes, taxes and such, we know.)

But still, Friday’s Mega Millions lottery could really end up being a “holy shiitake” moment for someone. Even the cash option of $366.3 million will still buy a shiitake-ton of mushrooms. (OK, all done now with mushroom puns. We promise.)

This will be the 27th drawing since someone last took home the top prize, and if a winner is crowned Friday night, it will be the seventh biggest jackpot in Mega Millions history.

Interestingly, there has never been a jackpot above $656 million but below $1 billion.

Two Tuesday millionaires

For the most recent drawing, on Tuesday night, two lucky players — one in Kansas, the other Michigan — took home $1 million each for matching the five white balls but not the gold Mega Ball. They are the 50th and 51st people to win $1 million or more since the last jackpot winner.

Lottery Geeks estimates 36.5 million tickets were sold, up from 34.7 million from last Friday’s draw.

The odds of winning Mega Millions are 1 in 302,575,350.

The last Mega Millions jackpot winner came in the June 4 drawing, when a ticket purchased in Illinois turned out to be worth $552 million. The only other winning ticket this year was for $1.128 billion. That one was sold in New Jersey and remains unclaimed. (New Jersey residents have one year to claim victory.)

Powerball powers past $100 million

Meanwhile, nobody took home the Powerball jackpot Wednesday night, making Saturday night’s drawing worth $112 million (cash value $55.3 million).

The winning numbers Wednesday — 7, 10, 21, 33, and 59 with the red Powerball of 20 — did yield a single million dollar winner, in Michigan, for matching all the numbers sans the Powerball.

It’s estimated that roughly 8.7 million tickets were sold for that drawing, which advertised a jackpot of $95 million.

This marked the seventh straight Powerball drawing without a winner, the last jackpot coming in California on Aug. 19, where the winner claimed $44 million.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2, with most states offering a multiplier option for another buck.

Both lotteries are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah, and tickets are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, customers can buy tickets for Powerball, but not 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. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey
10. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California

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. $558.1 million, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California