Both Powerball and Mega Millions Jackpots Surpass $500 Million

It is a rare week for lottery players: both of the country's marquee jackpot games have climbed past half a billion dollars at the same time. Between them, Powerball and Mega Millions are dangling more than $1.2 billion in advertised prizes over the next few days.

Where the two jackpots stand

• Mega Millions: $672 million, with a cash option of about $293 million, ahead of its Friday, July 17 drawing.
• Powerball: $526 million, with a cash option of about $234 million, ahead of its Saturday, July 18 drawing.

Part of why both jackpots have swelled this high is that neither game has produced a winner in months. Mega Millions last awarded its top prize on March 14, 2026, roughly 124 days ago, about four months without a jackpot hit. Powerball has been dry a little over two months, with its last jackpot won on May 3, 2026, roughly 74 days ago. Those long rolls, more than 30 drawings each without anyone matching all the numbers, are exactly how a jackpot climbs from its starting point past the half-billion mark. Both numbers climb as more tickets sell, so the totals may be higher by the time the balls are drawn. You can watch them move on our Powerball and Mega Millions pages.

The cash you actually take is a lot smaller than what's advertised

The headline number is the annuity, paid out over about three decades. Nearly every winner takes the cash instead, and for the cash option, you get roughly 44 cents on the advertised dollar, so Mega Millions' $672 million is about $293 million in hand, and Powerball's $526 million is about $234 million. Then federal and state taxes come out of that. We walk through the annuity-versus-cash gap in what a Powerball ticket is really worth over a jackpot cycle, and the tax side in how lottery winnings are taxed.

$2 and $5

Giant prizes bring out casual players, but the size of the pot has nothing to do with your chances. Powerball's odds of matching all six numbers are still 1 in 292.2 million, and Mega Millions' are 1 in 290.5 million. A Powerball line costs $2 and a Mega Millions line is $5. Buying both games does not meaningfully improve your shot, it just doubles what you spend, and whether the $5 Mega Millions ticket is worth it is a question a lot of players are asking.

Playing one, both, or neither

If you enjoy the two-dollar dream, a week with both games over $500 million is about as fun as the lottery gets, and there is nothing wrong with a ticket or two. If you would rather have realistic odds of a smaller win than a one-in-hundreds-of-millions shot at a giant one, that is exactly what scratch-offs are for, and we compared the two sides in scratch-offs vs Powerball.

Either way, it is a genuinely unusual week with both national games over half a billion dollars at once. Enjoy the run-up, and just remember that the number a winner actually pockets is a good deal smaller than the one on the billboard.