Two New Millionaires, No New Multimillionaires After Weekend Powerball And Mega Millions Drawings

It wasn’t a great weekend for getting rich playing the lottery, but it was a fine weekend for contributing to eventual lottery riches for someone.

Both the Mega Millions drawing on Friday, with its $228 million estimated jackpot, and the Powerball drawing on Saturday, with a $151 million estimated top prize, failed to deliver winners. And that means a few more scoops of cash atop each pile, as they enter the new week with estimated jackpots of $257 million and $164 million, respectively.

Each multi-state lottery game has now gone nine straight draws without a jackpot win. Mega Millions, which runs twice a week (Tuesday and Friday), was last won on March 26, and Powerball, with its three draws each week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday), last paid out the jackpot on April 6.

Time to play 23?

The winning Mega Millions numbers Friday were 15, 23, 53, 57, and 61, with a yellow Mega Ball of 9. Not only weren’t there any tickets matching all six numbers, but there wasn’t even a single ticket sold that matched all five white balls for a million bucks. The largest prize awarded was $30,000 to one player who hit four white balls and the Mega Ball and played the 3x Megaplier.

For the Powerball draw on Saturday, the winning numbers were 9, 30, 53, 55, and 62, with a red Powerball of 23. Two players, one in New Jersey and one in Georgia, matched everything but the Powerball to claim $1 million before taxes.

In a bizarre statistical anomaly, Saturday’s draw marked the sixth time in the last 15 games, dating back to March 25, that the number 23 was pulled for the red Powerball. During that same stretch, 23 has only come up on a white ball once.

Past results do not impact future draws, of course — so there’s still the same old 1-in-26 chance that the Powerball will be 23 for Monday night’s drawing.

Tickets for either Powerball or Mega Millions cost $2, with an option in some states to pay an extra $1 for a prize multiplier. Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states (all but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah), as well as in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands, while Powerball is available in all the same places plus Puerto Rico.

The odds of winning the Powerball grand prize are 1 in 292.2 million, and in Mega Millions, the odds are 1 in 302.6 million.

All-Time Biggest Jackpots

Here 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