(NEXSTAR) – A pair of record-setting lottery prizes are growing, one Powerball and the other Mega Millions.
While your odds of winning either are slim (1 in 24.87 and 1 in 24, respectively), it seems where you live could have an impact on your luck.
Since both lottery draw games began in the 1990s, jackpots have been hit hundreds of times — sometimes more than a dozen times in certain states.
All but five states participate in Powerball and Mega Millions. Of those participating states, three have never sold a jackpot-winning ticket for either game: Mississippi, North Dakota, and Wyoming.
Maine was also on that list until January of this year when a $1.348 billion Mega Millions jackpot was hit. It currently stands as the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot in history, and the fourth-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history.
Maine is the only other state that hasn’t sold a winning Powerball ticket. There are also four states that have only had one Powerball jackpot since 2003 (which is how far back the game’s jackpot history goes): Arkansas, Montana, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.
According to Mega Millions records, since 2002, 18 states have yet to have a jackpot-winning ticket: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Eight states have sold only one Mega Millions jackpot ticket: Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
More jackpot-winning tickets in both Powerball and Mega Millions have been sold in New York than in any other state. Thanks to a whopping 42 Mega Millions jackpot wins, the state has had 54 total grand prize winners since the early 2000s. Its most recent jackpot was a $20 million Mega Millions prize sold on April 18 in Syracuse, four days after a $483 million Mega Millions jackpot was won on a ticket sold in Queens.
After New York, are California and New Jersey, which have recorded 47 and 38 jackpot wins across both games, respectively.
Pennsylvania has seen the most Powerball jackpot tickets at 18 with its most recent being an August 3, 2022, prize worth an estimated $206.8 million. Though it’s home to the largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history – a $2.04 billion jackpot hit in November 2022 – California has sold only the third-most grand prize-winning Powerball tickets, tying with Indiana and New York.
The interactive map below shows the number of jackpot-winning Powerball tickets sold by state, as of mid-July 2023.
It’s important to note that some of the jackpots were split by multiple tickets sold in different states. Those are included in each state’s cumulative total.
Though Pennsylvania is home to the most Powerball jackpot winners, it has among the fewest Mega Millions jackpots at three.
It’s New York that has recorded the most, with its aforementioned 42 jackpots. California ranks second at 35, and New Jersey landed in third at 27.
This interactive map shows the number of Mega Millions jackpot-winning tickets sold in each state as of mid-July 2023.
Like the Powerball map above, jackpots split by tickets sold in different states are included in each state’s cumulative total.
So far this year, nine jackpots have been hit, six of which were Mega Millions grand prizes. Though that may sound like a lot, four of them were won in January and two in April. The last Powerball jackpot was won in April.
Record-setting prizes are brewing in both games. Without a winner in Monday’s drawing, the Powerball jackpot has reached an estimated $1 billion, officials said Tuesday. If it holds at that amount, it would be the third-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.
The Mega Millions jackpot is an estimated $640 million ahead of Tuesday night’s drawing. It would be the seventh-largest prize in game history.
Tickets for both games start at $2. Powerball drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET. Mega Millions drawings are held at 11 p.m. ET every Tuesday and Friday.
