Lotto America Coming To Mississippi, Its 14th State, In May

While the Mega Millions brain trust inches closer to an increase to $5 per ticket, Lotto America, the most affordable major draw lottery game at $1 per play, is expanding its reach. Starting Sunday, May 12, Lotto America will enter its 14th state, Mississippi, the Mississippi Lottery announced Monday.

Players in the Magnolia State can buy tickets beginning that Sunday, for the first drawing for which they’re eligible, on Monday, May 13.

Not only does Lotto America have a lower price point than Mega Millions or Powerball, but it also offers better odds of winning. Players choose five numbers from 1-52 and a Star Ball number from 1-10. The odds of winning a prize of some sort are 1 in 9.6, and the odds of a perfect match to win the jackpot are 1 in 25,989,600. It’s still an extreme longshot, of course, but those odds are more than 10 times better than the odds of winning either the Mega Millions or Powerball jackpot.

“Lotto America is popular in many other states,” said Mississippi Lottery President Jeff Hewitt in announcing the agreement. “As we noted player feedback, many players mentioned offering a draw-style game with a jackpot in between Match 5 and Powerball or Mega Millions. Lotto America is the perfect addition to our portfolio.”

Life-changing money, not retire-on-the-spot money

Naturally, with the lower price point and the less daunting odds come smaller jackpot amounts. Lotto America’s progressive starts at $2 million. Drawing are held on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday; for the next draw, Wednesday night, the jackpot sits at an estimated $2.9 million.

Like the other major draw games, Lotto America offers a multiplier option. A player can purchase the All Star Bonus for an extra $1, multiplying non-jackpot winnings by 2, 3, 4, or 5 times.

The 13 states that currently sell Lotto America tickets are Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Mega Millions and Powerball pots back on the rise

Powerball and Mega Millions have each awarded billion-dollar-plus jackpots in the last few weeks, but since resetting to $20 million, brief cold spells have those grand prizes building again.

It’s been a particularly cold streak for Powerball, which reached four straight draws without a jackpot Monday night and made it two in a row without even a million-dollar prize handed out.

The biggest wins Monday, with the jackpot at an estimated $67 million, were a pair of $150,000 scores for players who matched four white balls and the red Powerball while playing the multiplier (3x). The same was true for Saturday’s drawing, except the Power Play landed on 5x, meaning two players won $250,000.

For Wednesday’s drawing, the jackpot is up to an estimated $78 million (cash value: $36.5 million).

The most recent Mega Millions draw, on Friday, crowned four new millionaires who matched all five white balls, one of whom played the Megaplier to score $2 million.

Still, after a fifth straight draw without a jackpot winner, the estimated grand prize rose to $148 million (cash option: $67.8 million) for Tuesday’s drawing.

All-Time Biggest Jackpots

Here a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots, including the two billion-dollar-plus wins in 2024:

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. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey
10. $1.08 billion, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California

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. $558.1 million, Powerball, July 19, 2023, won in California