The Lotto Matrix: Texas Tumult And A First New Era Mega Winner

First things first

How much is Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot drawing worth? A cool $60 million, with a cash option of $26.9 million available. This is the second drawing since the first jackpot winner of the $5 ticket era was produced for last Friday’s $112 million drawing. That reset the top prize at $50 million for Tuesday’s drawing that went without a winner.

There was, however, one newly minted millionaire from Tuesday’s drawing. A ticket sold in Washington matched all five non-Mega Balls and had a 2x Megaplier for a $2 million payout. Including the April 18 grand prize winner in Ohio, there have been four straight Mega Millions drawings with at least one seven-figure payout.

How much is Saturday’s Powerball jackpot drawing worth? The jackpot is a healthy $168 million, or $77.1 million for those needing instant financial gratification. The rollover count is at 11 since a player in California had the lone winning ticket for the March 29 drawing worth $527 million.

The three drawings without a jackpot winner this past week did have two contestants match all five non-Power Ball numbers. One player in Nebraska won $2 million from last Saturday’s drawing, while a counterpart in Pennsylvania also had a $2 million ticket Wednesday thanks to playing the 2x multiplier.

As the Texas Lotto turns

Texas was originally going to top this news cycle with Monday’s sudden resignation of Texas Lottery Commission Executive Director Rian Mindell. Then Lotto.com blew that out of the water with a lawsuit against the state agency and freshly installed Acting Executive Director Sergio Rey filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Austin seeking an injunction against the rule banning couriers put in place in February.

The crux of the lawsuit is the “interim rule” put in place by Mindell and the TLC in February that banned lotto couriers and gave the state agency the right to investigate and regulate couriers. Lotto.com called the second part of the interim rule an “overnight, 180-degree change” that was a “new interpretation of the law that the [Commission] never used previously.”

The lawsuit also chronicles events which circle back to Ground Zero in this whole saga, the April 2023 drawing for $95 million that a London-based group won by spending $25 million to buy practically all the combinations of numbers drawn. This is where Lotto.com took the proverbial blowtorch to Mindell and the Texas Lottery Commission over his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee in February. It alleged “The unprecedented ‘bulk purchase’ was made possible by and because of the Commission itself — not LTC (Lotto.com) or any other lotto courier.”

Lotto.com’s filing also detailed how Lotto.com CEO Thomas Metzger reached out to previous TLC Executive Director Gary Grief with his concerns about the bulk purchase. Grief did nothing at the time to halt the bulk purchase but then expressed remorse over his inaction. The filing further claims Grief “effectively apologized” to Metzger and noted that LTC had “wisely avoided ensuring jackpot schemes.”

The courier also provided a screenshot of a text between Metzger and Grief discussing how to avoid a repeat of such an occurrence. Grief resigned from his post in 2024 as media scrutiny over the April drawing grew, highlighted by an in-depth investigative report by the Houston Chronicle.

A Mega win for the history books

Mega Millions had its first jackpot winner since the changeover to a $5 ticket earlier this month, with last Friday’s $112 million jackpot won by a player in South Euclid, Ohio. Lottery Geeks estimated 5.3 million tickets were sold for the drawing, which would be a slight increase from the first three draws at the new price point.

In some respects, the jackpot hitting at that exact point was perfect timing for Mega Millions. A payout on the fourth drawing was quick, but not too quick since the grand prize reached nine figures. The reset to $50 million instead of the previous $20 million after verification a winning ticket was sold provided a reminder of one of the benefits of the new price point. And while the better odds in winning the jackpot may be only slightly better, you can’t win if you don’t play.

“Moments like this are exactly why we reimagined the game,” said Joshua Johnston, Lead Director of the Mega Millions Consortium. “This jackpot win – and the millions of dollars going to non-jackpot winners every drawing – is the result of years of planning, collaboration, and listening to what players want. We’re proud of what this game is already delivering for our players and beneficiaries and are looking forward to the future big wins to come.”

New Hampshire Lottery extends with Intralot

The New Hampshire Lottery and Intralot announced they reached agreement on a 7-year contract extension that sees the pair extending their partnership through 2033. The Granite State was the first to deploy Intralot’s LotosX gaming platform in the U.S. back in 2010, and it will continue to be used on Cloud infrastructure to provide “enhanced resilience, scalability, and top-tier security.”

Intralot will also provide the New Hampshire Lottery an infrastructure upgrade with the deployment of 1,700 PhotonX terminals and a combined 900 units between Gamestation self-service terminals and Dream Touch Flex vending machines.

“For more than 15 years, INTRALOT has been a critical partner of the New Hampshire Lottery, providing innovative solutions supporting our record growth,” said Charlie McIntyre, Executive Director, New Hampshire Lottery. “Since 1964, we have raised nearly $3 billion for the students, teachers and schools in our state. We look forward to continuing our relationship with INTRALOT, whose advanced technology will assist in responsibly increasing both sales and our contributions to education.”

Newsworthy Nuggets

Double dip of wins in Missouri: A man admitted to surprise he won the $6.3 million jackpot from the Show Me State’s March 19 lotto drawing as he did not look at the ticket until returning to Rocket in Lake St. Louis, where he purchased it a few days later.

“I walked up to the scanner and it told me to go to the Lottery office,” he told Missouri Lottery officials. “So I had the cashier check it for me because I was a little bit surprised.”

Surprise became disbelief when he went home and realized he had matched all six numbers from the drawing, getting his wife to confirm their good fortune. The man then made the trek to the lottery’s regional office in St. Louis, where he redeemed his ticket.

The big wins were not limited to draw games as a woman salvaged what she called “a crummy day” in grand fashion — a soda and a $5,000,000 Fortune scratch-off at the Conoco in O’Fallon. She began scratching off the $50 ticket at home and realized she had won the second of the three $5 million top prizes available.

“I was just like, ‘Is this real?’” she said, adding she called her son to have him look at the ticket. After his initial skpeticism, she looked at the ticket again and realized she did indeed have a winning scratcher.

When a higher power calls, answer it: Call it divine intervention as a man won $1 million in Illinois playing the $10 Million Bankroll scratch-off on the south side of Chicago. The man, who identified himself as “San Judas Tadeo” to lottery officials made the selection of the $50 scratcher based on the color of the ticket, a shade of green matching the robe of his favorite saint, Saint Jude.

“I saw the green scratch-off ticket, so I took a chance—and boy, did it pay off big time,” he said. “I was in complete shock—totally speechless. I didn’t say a word to anyone, just kept staring at the ticket. Then I slowly walked to my car like nothing had happened.”

He shared the news with his wife via phone, who initially did not believe him. It was only after he got home when the celebration began: “I finally scanned the ticket, and everyone’s mouths just dropped—then came the screaming, crying, and jumping up and down in joy.” 

After paying bills and getting his finances in order, Tadeo plans on giving his son a VIP experience at a Chicago Bulls game next season since he estimates they have not seen a game live in eight years.

Who has the biggest active individual state lotto jackpot in the land? It’s still the California Lottery as the jackpot for the Superlotto Plus is now $21 million with a cash option of $9.6 million. The Texas Lotto holds steady at No. 2, climbing to $15.25 million with a cash option of nearly $8.4 million.

The Colorado Lotto+ is again the only other state lottery with an eight-figure jackpot, now at $11.9 million. New York once more occupies the fourth slot at $8.2 million, and Illinois cracks the top five at $6.65 million, edging out the $6.6 million available in the Washington Lottery for Saturday.

The jackpot for the multi-state Lotto America again incrementally inched higher, and Saturday’s drawing is for $31.55 million, with a $14.47 million cash option available.

Until next week, dream big, check your numbers, and play responsibly!