MADISON, WI (WSAU) — Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing has crept back into record territory at $565 million, something lottery players have gotten used to seeing in 2022.
Both the Mega Millions and Powerball games produced at least one billion-dollar jackpot in the last year, and multiple drawings worth $500 million or more. Wisconsin Lottery Spokesperson Gary Kohn says that seems to be the new “attention-grabbing” jackpot level.
“We don’t really take notice when [the jackpots] are $200 or $300 million, even though that’s an enormous amount of money,” said Kohn. “But once we get towards $400, $500, or $600 million it seems like it kickstarts. [The hype] goes into another gear.”
Both Mega Millions and Powerball produced at least one $1 billion jackpot in the last year. The Powerball game also set a global lottery jackpot record with a drawing worth just over $2 billion in early November. Kohn says that’s when people really like to start dreaming of what that kind of money could do to their life. “We get a lot of people who ride the coattails. The infrequent buyers come in and want to join the fun because we all enjoy playing the game ‘what if?’”
The multi-state lottery association, which runs both Mega Millions and Powerball, has also been changing the rules and regulations for each game in an attempt to create more million-dollar prizes and large jackpots. That includes the addition of a Monday Powerball drawing, giving the game three draws per week instead of two.
The last Mega Millions win came in October when winners in California and Flordia split a $502 million jackpot.
