Win Powerball, Buy America Hot Dogs On Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is finally here and, while we will all take a moment to honor our fallen veterans, we will also take a moment — well, probably a few moments — to chow down on hot dogs.

According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council — we swear we are not making that trade group up — 896 million pounds of hot dogs were sold in 2023, which comes to $2.99 billion in retail sales.

Furthermore — stick with us now, we’re coming in hot with plenty of mustard — 38% of that total is sold between Memorial Day and Labor Day. That’s about $614 million over the 100 or so days. Somehow, The Christian Science Monitor has figured this comes out to 71 million hot dogs a day. 

So, over the three-day weekend, let’s figure Americans will eat some 213 million hot dogs.

Walmart is selling an 8-pack of Ball Park franks for $3.

if you wanted to cover all the hot dogs consumed this holiday weekend, you’d be forking over roughly $80 million.

Now: You can do one of two things here. You can go over our math with a fine-tooth comb and see if we did this correctly, or you can just go win Saturday night’s Powerball jackpot. It offers an estimated top prize of $163 million, with a $73.3 million cash value — enough to buy a hot dog for most everybody who wants one.

So what’s it gonna be, bub? Nitpick, or buy me a dog?

Nobody won Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing — numbers 9, 29, 31, 34, and 43, with a red Powerball of 2 — but three ticket buyers (from New Hampshire, Texas, and Kansas) hit all five white balls to take home a million dollars each.

Lottery Geeks estimates 7.9 million tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing.

Mega Millions just a few million behind

Nobody won Tuesday night’s Mega Millions drawing, making Friday night’s drawing worth $154 million.

The winning numbers for Tuesday night were 18, 30, 33, 55, and 64, with a gold Mega Ball of 11. Nobody matched all five white balls.

Lottery Geeks estimates 5.5 million tickets were sold for Tuesday’s drawing.

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

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