Powerball Jackpot For Saturday Has Reached Jeff Bezos Yacht Price Territory

Win Powerball, put a down payment on a yacht like the one Jeff Bezos owns.

Bezos, the founder of Amazon and, if we’re being honest, person most likely to one day become the actual Iron Man, owns a yacht.

It is, according to reports, the largest yacht in the world. It’s a superyacht, in fact, which kind of sounds like something you might say in a foreign tongue to someone who just sneezed. 

Anyway, he owns it, he’s getting married on it this summer, and it costs $500 million.

And guess what? You don’t have enough money to buy it, even if you win the estimated $515 million jackpot Saturday night, as the cash value for the top prize is a mere $242.7 million. Just a regular ol’ yacht for you, m’kay?

Clearly, nobody won Wednesday night’s drawing — numbers 5, 20, 29, 39, 53, and red Powerball of 6 — although three ticket buyers (one each in California, New York, and Washington, D.C.) matched all five white balls for $1 million each. Those winners can buy a very nice rowboat with that kind of scratch.

Lottery Geeks estimates 14.7 million tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing.

Mega gonna mega, soon

OK, so someone in Illinois won the Mega Millions jackpot Tuesday night, hitting for $349 million. A nice haul. (The estimated prize pre-drawing was $344 million, but what’s another $5 mil at that point?)

As a result, Friday’s Mega Millions is a mere $20 million, but it won’t stay “small” for long. This will be the third-to-last drawing of Mega Millions at the $2 price point before it jumps to $5 for the April 8 drawing.

In short: Look out, Bezos. There are soon going to be some other people looking at half-billion dollar yachts.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2 (for now), with most states offering the multiplier option — which impacts any prize won except the jackpot — for an additional $1.

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