Powerball Drawing Saturday Is Your Ticket From Prime Delivery To Prime Real Estate

One of the most miraculous things about modern life is that I can go on my phone and order dog food, toilet paper, an Elmore Leonard novel, underpants, a hammer, live ladybugs, a poop emoji waffle iron, and just about anything else, and about a day later, it will all be in one box on my front porch.

But wouldn’t it be better if it was quicker? Like, nearly instantaneous?

You’d have to think that when Jeff Bezos — you know, Amazon’s founder — orders up some ketchup and world domination mind control lasers, they get delivered lickety-split.

And if that’s the case, then perhaps the best way to spend the estimated $200 million Powerball jackpot for Saturday night’s drawing would be to buy a parcel of land next door to Bezos in Miami to ensure the quickest possible delivery of your non-world domination items. (Yes, of course, the cash value is $90.7 million, but that’s plenty enough for a down payment.)

Because $200 million is exactly what the asking price is for a 1.84-acre vacant lot next door to Bezos in the exclusive Indian Creek Island neighborhood known as “Billionaire’s Bunker.” This, according to Robb Report.

Other neighbors include Tom Brady, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, and investor Carl Icahn, all of whom probably also get those supersonic delivery speeds.

Pro tip in case you follow through on this idea, and calling back to Bezos’ ketchup order of a few paragraphs ago: If you host a barbecue, spring for the Heinz instead of store-brand. These people will notice.

At any rate, the reason the Powerball jackpot is up to $200 million is because nobody won Wednesday night, when the numbers pulled were 6, 12, 28, 35, and 66, with a red Powerball of 26.

There were, however, a pair of Match 5 winners who each won $1 million for pairing all five white balls. Those tickets were sold in North Carolina and Arizona.

Lottery Geeks estimates about 10.9 million tickets were sold for Wednesday’s drawing.

Mega Millions looks to bulk up

Fresh off a $1.22 billion dollar jackpot win, Mega Millions reset to $20 million for Tuesday’s drawing and nobody won, pushing Friday night’s drawing to an estimated $42 million (cash value $18.8 million).

But Tuesday’s drawing — numbers 13, 22, 27, 29, and 35 and a gold Mega Ball of 1 — did mint three new millionaires. The three lucky ticket-buyers in Florida, Minnesota, and New Jersey each matched all five white balls to take home a cool million apiece.

Lottery Geeks estimates 13.4 million tickets were sold for Tuesday’s drawing.

Tickets for either lottery cost $2, with most states offering the multiplier option — which impacts any prize won except the jackpot — for an additional $1.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Tickets for both draw games are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, customers can buy tickets for Powerball, but not for Mega Millions.

All-time biggest jackpots

Here is a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots:

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. $1.22 billion, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California
10. $1.13 billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024, won in New Jersey

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. $571.9 million, Mega Millions, Dec. 27, 2024, won in California