Birthday Numbers Fail On Eve Of Mahomes’ Birthday, No One Wins Powerball Jackpot

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is celebrating his 29th birthday on the day this article is posting, Tuesday, Sept. 17. And despite more or less winning the lottery of life — three Super Bowl rings, a $450 million contract, friends with Taylor Swift — he has never actually hit a major jackpot in the lottery lottery.

We’re not even sure if he plays the lottery. If he did, however, it would be a perfectly typical human thing to do for him to include his “birthday numbers,” 9 and 17, among the six he selects.

And had Mahomes done that on the eve of his birthday, Monday night, he could have been two-sixths of the way to a $165 million jackpot.

That said, one of the cardinal rules of lottery play is “don’t only play birthday numbers” — numbers between 1 and 31. When those numbers come in, because so many people play them as their “lucky” numbers, you run an increased risk of splitting a jackpot.

On Monday night, however, the birthday numbers that came up in the Powerball drawing weren’t limited to just Mahomes’ birthday numbers. All six balls drawn were birthday numbers: 8, 9, 11, 27, and 31, with the red Powerball of 17.

And perhaps somewhat surprisingly, there was no jackpot winner.

But those birthday numbers did create three new millionaires, as two tickets (sold in Arkansas and Virginia) matched all five white balls for $1 million, and a third ticket (sold in Texas) was a “Power Play” winner, netting $2 million.

Lottery Geeks estimates some 9.7 million tickets were sold for Monday’s drawing.

And that brings us to Wednesday’s night’s estimated jackpot of $176 million, with a cash option of $89.4 million.

This will be the 13th Powerball drawing since the last winner was crowned on Aug. 19, when a $44 million jackpot ticket was purchased in California.

Mega Millions creeps up

Meanwhile in Mega Millions land, no one took home the jackpot last Friday night, making Tuesday’s jackpot an estimated $31 million with a cash option of $15.6 million.

The winning numbers Friday — 21, 55, 56, 57, and 66 with a gold Mega Ball of 1 — did not create any new millionaires, and Lottery Geeks estimates about 10.2 million tickets were sold.

Of course, Mega Millions recently saw someone hit the jackpot for over $800 million, so the ticket sale slowdown — over 50 million tickets were sold for that drawing — is to be expected.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2, with most states offering a multiplier option for an additional $1.

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