Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots soar to nearly $2B combined

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Spring has sprung and lotto fever is in the air as multiple games are seeing jackpots with some staggering high numbers.

"This is the first time that those multi-state, Powerball, Mega-millions have both been up over $800 million at the same time," said Carolyn Becker, California Lottery Spokesperson.

Winnings stacking up to over $800 million and $1.1 billion at the same time has never happened before, and players around town are hoping to cash in.

"If I have time, I pick certain numbers, and if I don't have time I just go with the quick pick. So today is the quick pick," explained Dean Iwahashi, Fresno resident.

Lottery officials assure that there is no strategy to it, it's just pure luck.

The winning numbers are chosen at random and if you become a winner, consider yourself one of the lucky few.

California sold the single largest winning ticket ever a couple of years ago, and many Californians are hoping that luck is still out there.

"In November of 2022 we had a single ticket sold in the Los Angeles Area worth 2.04 billion dollars, so that's the record," said Becker.

Jumping jackpots tend to bring more people out to play and lottery officials want to remind players that purchasing a ticket through an app is not legal in California, as all lottery purchases in California must be done in person.

And as the Lotto craze is heightened, do remember that money raised is used to help public schools.

For every $2 ticket purchased in the Mega Millions or Powerball .80 cents goes straight to education.

"Just from Mega Millions and Powerball, since those jackpots have been growing for a couple of months now simultaneously, we've raised an extra $130 million just from sales of those games these past couple of months," added Becker.

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