Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots both top $400 million heading into weekend draws

ORLANDO, FL — Apr 24, 2026

Both of America's largest multi-state lotteries are offering nine-figure jackpots this weekend, with Powerball climbing toward $450 million and Mega Millions holding steady near $410 million after back-to-back rollovers. The convergence creates a rare window where players chasing a single ticket could target either game at historically robust prize levels without waiting weeks for the pot to rebuild.

Powerball's streak now stands at 39 consecutive rollovers since the last jackpot win on December 6, 2025. Mega Millions has rolled over 21 times since its last winner on March 1. The two games draw on different nights — Powerball on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday; Mega Millions on Tuesday and Friday — meaning players have six drawing opportunities across the weekend to chase nine-figure prizes.

The numbers heading into Saturday and Friday draws

Powerball's Saturday drawing is expected to feature a $447 million annuity jackpot, with a cash value estimated at roughly $210 million depending on current interest rates. The game's odds of winning the jackpot remain fixed at 1 in 292,201,338.

Mega Millions' Friday drawing carries a $410 million annuity, with a cash option estimated around $188 million. The Mega Millions jackpot odds stand at 1 in 290,472,336 under the current format.

Both figures sit comfortably above the $20 million starting jackpot for each game, meaning neither has reset to its floor in weeks. The last time both games simultaneously carried nine-figure jackpots was in February 2024, when Powerball reached $842 million and Mega Millions climbed to $447 million — a pairing that drew record ticket sales across the multi-state network.

Why the dry spell persists

Powerball's 39-draw streak without a jackpot winner is the second-longest in the game's history since the format change in 2015. The longest such streak ran 41 draws, ending in August 2023 when a player in Maine claimed a $1.348 billion prize. Long droughts are not unusual for games with one-in-292-million odds, but they create the jackpot growth that powers exceptional excitement and ticket sales.

"Powerball's odds are designed to create meaningful jackpot growth between wins," the Multi-State Lottery Association stated in its 2025 game rules documentation. "Large rollovers reflect the mathematical structure of the game, not any shift in how the drawings are conducted."

The current Mega Millions streak is younger but moving briskly. The March 1 winner in an unreported state claimed a $128 million annuity, well below the game's ceiling. Since then, the jackpot has climbed steadily, accelerated by the typical Tuesday and Friday draw cycle and above-average ticket sales driven by media coverage of both games' concurrent growth.

Historical context: how these jackpots stack up

The $447 million Powerball jackpot expected Saturday ranks as the largest since January 2025, when the game hit $632 million before rolling over another five times. It is, however, well below the all-time record of $2.04 billion (November 2022) and falls outside the top 10 largest Powerball jackpots since 2015.

Mega Millions' $410 million jackpot is closer to its historical median for active rollover sequences. The game's largest jackpot on record is $1.537 billion (October 2018). The current $410 million is substantial but not unprecedented — it ranks around the 50th-largest in the game's modern history.

For context, a $400 million annuity spread across 30 years works out to roughly $13 million per year before federal withholding (typically 37 percent for lottery prizes). The cash option, while smaller, is paid as a single lump sum, avoiding the annuity's inflation risk and allowing a winner to invest immediately. Most large winners in recent years have chosen the cash option, according to state lottery reporting.

What Saturday and Friday mean for momentum

The weekend draws carry particular weight in the lottery calendar. Saturday is historically Powerball's busiest draw night, followed by Wednesday; Friday sees elevated Mega Millions play. Players chasing both jackpots have no strategic advantage in choosing one game over the other at the jackpot tier — both are equally unlikely to hit. But the back-to-back weekend opportunity does create a natural focal point for excitement and media coverage.

If both games roll over again this weekend, the next advertised jackpots would land Powerball in the $500 million range by Wednesday, May 1, and Mega Millions at $450 million by Tuesday, April 30. A win on either game would reset its jackpot to $20 million, while the other would continue its climb. Historical data suggests that long streaks eventually break — they always do — but there is no predictive model for when.

The odds of winning the jackpot on a single ticket remain identical whether the pot is $20 million or $2 billion. A Powerball ticket holder faces a 1-in-292-million chance of matching all five white balls plus the Powerball, regardless of the prize pool. The jackpot size determines only what that one-in-a-million prize is worth when it hits, not whether it hits.

Players should spend only what they can afford to lose. The lottery should remain entertainment, not a financial strategy. A $100 spend on weekend Powerball and Mega Millions tickets still leaves the buyer with worse odds than experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime event twice over in succession.

What comes next

The next significant milestone will come if either game crosses $500 million. Powerball has not held a jackpot above $500 million since June 2025; Mega Millions last crossed that threshold in January 2024. If both games reach the half-billion mark in the same calendar week, media attention will intensify, driving ticket sales and potentially accelerating the next win event.

Players interested in tracking these jackpots in real time can check official Powerball and Mega Millions websites immediately after each 11 p.m. ET drawing for confirmed results and updated advertised amounts. Most state lottery retailers also display updated jackpot figures on Saturday morning, reflecting Friday evening's Mega Millions outcome.

The convergence of large jackpots across both games this weekend is a temporary window. It will close either when one or both hit a winner, or when the other game resets to its floor. Either way, the next major rollover event is a draw or two away.

Sources

• Multi-State Lottery Association Powerball game rules and jackpot history: powerball.com
• Mega Millions official jackpot tracking and rules: megamillions.com
• MUSL Powerball format documentation: musl.com/powerball