Nothing Sketch-y About Top Powerball Prize

Saturday night will mark the 18th drawing since the last Powerball winner was crowned, and ticket-buyers have some serious reasons to purchase a few tickets with the top prize an estimated $234 million.

Or, if you’re into the whole cash thing, it’s a lump sum of $106.6 million, which happens to be enough to buy at least 7 million Etch A Sketches.

Win this Powerball, take the cashola, go to your local Barnes & Noble and buy yourself an Etch A Sketch at a sale price of $14.99. Seven million of them.

Why would you do this? Because Saturday is — drumroll, please — National Etch A Sketch Day!

We here at Lottery Geeks had an Etch A Sketch growing up, and it was — and remains — easily the most annoying toy in the world. You’d try to draw something and fail. Every single time. We don’t understand how people make actual art and stuff with it.

We prefer Mr. Potato Head any day of the week.

It’s a Power-ful number

While Wednesday night’s Powerball didn’t yield a grand prize winner, it did yield nine(!) Match 5 million-dollar winners. Two were from California, two from Illinois, two from Massachusetts, and one each from Florida, Nebraska, and Texas. The Texas ticket-buyer had a 2x multiplier for a $2 million win.

Why so many winners? Of the five white balls, four were birthday digits — 5, 9, 25, and 28. And the fifth? Presented without comment, it was 69. 

The red Powerball, for those scoring at home, was 5.

Lottery Geeks estimates 10.4 million tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing.

Mega clicks up

Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing, the third since the last winner was crowned, will be for $80 million.

Nobody won Tuesday’s drawing — numbers 4, 6, 38, 44, 62, and a gold Mega Ball of 24 — and no one matched all five white balls.

Lottery Geeks estimates 4.3 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