Break Out The Bubbly — It’s National Lottery Day!

Let the record state this is being written on the holiest of holy days on the secular calendar, for today is — trumpets, please — National Lottery Day.

Yes, today is the day we celebrate the bestest thing in the entire known universe, which is simply this: the ability to acquire life-changing amounts of money without doing a lick of work.

God bless America, and God bless the lottery.

Fun fact: In 2024, Americans spent about $113.3 billion on lottery tickets. That’s what mathematician-types would call a “big freaking number.”

Let’s try and break that down.

• If every man, woman, and child in America split up $113.3 billion, we’d each have about $333.
• Americans spend over $310 million per day on lottery tickets. That comes to nearly $13 million every hour, $215,000 every minute, and almost $3,600 every single second.
• If we decided to take the $113.3 billion and start a whole new country with it, our GDP would be nestled in between Ecuador and Sudan, good for 64th in the world.
• A Big Mac costs $5.69 at my local McDonald’s. You could buy everyone in the world two Big Macs with that money and have plenty left over.
• The median U.S. home price is about $400,000. You could buy every houseless person their own place. And their own summer house.

Point being: National Lottery Day is a serious holiday. 

Now let’s talk about some serious money, namely Saturday night’s Powerball, which is estimated to be worth $288 million. This will be the 21st drawing since somebody last won the top prize.

Wednesday night’s numbers — 4, 21, 43, 48, 49, and a red Powerball of 22 — yielded no Match 5 winners.

Lottery Geeks estimates 10.1 million tickets were sold for Monday’s drawing.

Mega Friday

Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing, the fifth since the last winner was crowned, will be for an even $100 million.

Nobody won Tuesday’s drawing — numbers 6, 10, 24, 35, 43, and a gold Mega Ball of 1. No one matched all five white balls.

Lottery Geeks estimates 4.2 million tickets were sold.

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