Here are the latest details about the giant jackpots!
Nobody won the jackpot in last night’s Mega Millions® drawing, so that giant prize climbs even further, to an estimated $970 million annuity, $716.3 million lump-sum option for the game’s drawing on Friday. That’s the second-largest prize in the history of the game and the third-largest jackpot ever offered in the United States.
And the Powerball® jackpot currently stands at an estimated $730 million annuity, $546 million lump-sum option for its drawing tonight. That’s the fourth-largest prize in Powerball history and the fifth-largest U.S. jackpot.
This is the first time the games’ jackpots have simultaneously topped the $700 million mark. But the record for a lottery prize remains the Powerball jackpot of nearly $1.59 billion that was split in January 2016 by winners in California, Florida and Tennessee.
Last Night’s Drawing Details, Iowa Tickets That Won Prizes
The winning numbers in last night’s Mega Millions drawing were: 10-19-26-28-50 and Mega Ball 16. The Megaplier number was 2.
A total of 35,826 plays purchased by Iowa Lottery players won prizes in last night’s drawing.
Iowa Lottery players bought more than $2 million in Mega Millions tickets for the drawing, including more than $1 million in tickets yesterday alone. Given the ongoing COVID-19 health emergency, those figures are understandably both well down from sales totals during other recent years with giant jackpots.
Here is another number we watch closely: The average Mega Millions purchase yesterday in Iowa remained about $6, or three plays per ticket. We’re glad to see that Iowans are having fun playing, but they aren’t going overboard.
Now The ‘Longest Roll’
The length of time that a jackpot continues to grow is often referred to as a roll, meaning that it keeps rolling without being hit. Friday’s drawing will be the 37th since the Mega Millions jackpot was last won on Sept. 15 with a ticket purchased in Wisconsin. This is now the longest Mega Millions jackpot roll.
Powerball also is on its longest roll. Tonight’s drawing is the 36th since that game’s jackpot was last won on Sept. 16 with a ticket purchased in New York.
Easy Pick vs. Your Own Numbers
Nearly 94 percent of the tickets purchased for last night’s Mega Millions drawing were easy picks, meaning that the players opted for the lottery terminal to randomly select the numbers involved.
We know that some people wonder which option has a better chance of winning: easy picks or tickets where the player chooses the numbers. The answer? The odds are the same for every ticket in the game. But there are more easy-pick winners simply because most of the tickets purchased are easy picks.
Details About ‘Coverage’
By tracking sales, lottery officials can estimate how many of all the possible combinations have been purchased for a particular drawing. (The odds of winning the jackpot in Powerball are about 1 in 292.2 million because there are about 292.2 million ways that the numbers in the game can be combined to make a play. And in Mega Millions, the odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 302.6 million because that’s how many ways the numbers in that game can be combined in a play.)
Nearly 30 percent of the combinations had been purchased for the last Powerball drawing on Saturday (Jan. 16). And, the coverage estimate for this coming Friday’s Mega Millions drawing is about 40 percent.
A Few Gentle Reminders
We’ve also got these gentle reminders when it comes to buying tickets for upcoming jackpot drawings:
- Remember that the deadline in Iowa to buy tickets for the Mega Millions and Powerball drawings is at 8:59 p.m. the night of the drawing. If you buy a ticket after that deadline, it will be for an upcoming drawing and you won’t be in the running for that night’s giant prize.
- And, please remember to play responsibly. You only need one ticket to have a chance to win.
- We also want everyone to be safe and continue following social distancing guidelines when you’re out and about. Think about buying your tickets if you're already out running errands rather than making a special trip to get them.
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