Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot: $323M; Saturday’s Powerball Jackpot: $286M

Lottery players in New York and around the country will be chasing history this weekend as they purchase tickets for Mega Millions and Powerball for the chance to win more than $600 million combined.

The first of two massive jackpots up for grabs is Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing, which, after rolling 27 times without a jackpot winner, has reached an estimated jackpot of $323 million. Saturday night’s Powerball drawing is creating its own buzz among players with an estimated jackpot of $286 million, building since June 14.

“This dueling multi-hundred-million dollar jackpot scenario is an industry first,” said New York Lottery Director Gweneth Dean. “We’ve never seen Mega Millions and Powerball go head-to-head with jackpots like this before. This weekend is a Lottery player’s dream.”

Friday’s $323 Million Mega Millions Drawing

The $323 million Mega Millions puts Friday’s jackpot in the Top Ten list of all-time high jackpots for the game.

Tickets for Friday night’s Mega Millions drawing cost $1 per game to play and may be purchased up until 10:45 p.m. The drawing will be televised during the 11 p.m. news on New York Lottery draw station channels.

To play Mega Millions, players choose five numbers from a field of one to 75 plus one additional number – the Mega Ball – from a separate field of one to 15.

The Mega Millions second prize for matching only the first five numbers drawn is $1 million. The current roll up has produced five $1 million-winning tickets so far. Those tickets were sold in Holbrook, Hicksville, and Manhattan.

Saturday’s $286 Million Powerball Drawing

The roll-up to Saturday night’s Powerball drawing began on June 14 and has since rolled 15 times without a top-prize winner.

Powerball tickets can be purchased up until 10 p.m. on the day of the drawing. Powerball costs $2 a game to play. Drawings are televised live at 10:59 p.m. on New York Lottery draw stations.

To play Powerball, players choose five numbers from a field of one to 69 and one additional number – the Power Ball – from a separate field of one to 26.

The July 22 Powerball drawing produced one second-prize winning ticket that matched the first five numbers drawn. The ticket, purchased in New Hyde Park, is worth $1 million and remains unclaimed to date.

Mega Millions Jackpot Winners

The largest Mega Millions jackpot in history is a $656 million payout won by three ticket holders in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.

There have been 31 jackpot-winning Mega Millions tickets purchased in New York since the game’s debut in 2002. New York’s growing list of Mega Millionaires includes:

• The Operations 11 Group of co-workers from Manhattan that won $108 million in 2002
• The Lucky 16 Group of co-workers from Manhattan who won $16 million in 2002
• Phin Suy of Brooklyn who won $128 million in 2003
• Henrietta Hudson of Uniondale who won $34 million in 2003
• The Penello Family of Rockaway Beach who split $67 million in 2004
• The Zielinski Family of Staten Island who split $10 million in 2004
• Juan Rodriguez of Richmond Hills who won $149 million in 2004
• Jose Santiago Morales Sanchez of the Bronx who won $12 million in 2006
• Gilberto Bueno of Queens who won $105 million in 2007
• W.J. Albertson of Mahopac Falls who won $75 Million in 2007
• Edward & Ellen Hopper of Tompkins Cove who won $17 Million in 2008
• Janet Alnwick of Merrick who won $22 Million in 2009
• Isabel A. Zelaya of Wyandanch who won $27 million in 2009
• The Silverbush Family of Syracuse who won $36 million in 2009
• Aubrey Boyce of Kew Gardens who won $133 million in 2009
• James Groves of the Bronx who won $168 million in 2009
• William and Mary Morrison of Miller Place who won $165 Million in 2009
• The Shammas Family of Brooklyn who won $64 million in 2010
• Freddie Hands, Ronald Edwards, and Douglas Tedford of Syracuse who split $26 million in 2010
• Garina Fearon of Brooklyn who won $54 million in 2010
• The Albany 7 Group from the Capital Region that won $319 million in 2011
• The Gillen Family of Staten Island that won $71 million in 2011
• Daniel Bruckner of San Jose, CA who won $208 million 2011
• Jin Ok Choi of Staten Island who won $85 million in 2012
• Christopher Manzi of Morganville, NJ who won $14 million in 2012
• Philip Cimino of Garden City who won $33 million in 2012
• Cameron Finney of Mastic who won $20 million in 2014
• Harold Diamond of Middletown who won $326 million in 2014
• Tammy Pratt of Manhattan who won $126 million in 2015
• The Lucky 16 Trust of West New York, NJ that won $58 million in 2015
• The Lopez Family and Friends from Yonkers who split $106 million in 2015

Powerball Jackpot Winners

The largest Powerball payout in history was a $1.5 billion jackpot paid to ticket holders in Florida, Tennessee, and California in 2016.

New York, which joined Powerball in 2010, has sold six jackpot-winning Powerball tickets to date. Those winners include:

• Chris and Jeff Pintuff of Wilton who won a $48.8 million jackpot on Christmas Day, 2010
• Stephen Kirwan of Purling who was the sole winner of a $122 million jackpot in January, 2011
• A group of 20 co-workers from Melville who called themselves the “1937 Flatbush Ave. Dodgers” who split a $201.9 million jackpot in June, 2011
• Tara Ramirez of Hartsdale who claimed a $73 million jackpot on behalf of Case Park, LLC, a limited liability company she created following her win in February, 2012
• Maksim Nikolayev of South Brooklyn who was the sole winner of a $130.3 million jackpot in November, 2013
• Anthony Perosi and Anthony Perosi III of Manhattan who split a $136 million jackpot in March, 2015

About the New York Lottery

The New York Lottery continues to be North America’s largest and most profitable Lottery, contributing $3.27 billion in fiscal year 2016-2017 to help support education in New York State. The Lottery’s contribution represents approximately 14 percent of total state education aid to local school districts.

New York Lottery revenue is distributed to local school districts by the same statutory formula used to distribute other state aid to education. It takes into account both a school district’s size and its income level; larger, lower-income school districts receive proportionately larger shares of Lottery school funding.