Massachusetts lottery fans are staring down a serious pile of cash this weekend, as the Megabucks jackpot has jumped to an estimated $17.15 million for Saturday's drawing. Take the lump-sum cash option and you're looking at roughly $11.62 million before taxes. It is the richest Megabucks prize since the mid-1980s and firmly plants this drawing among the game's all-time heavyweights.
According to CBS Boston, the estimated $17.15 million pot ranks as the fourth-largest Megabucks jackpot on record and would translate to about $11.62 million if a winner opts for the cash payout. The game has not produced a jackpot winner since April 21, 2025, when a ticket sold in Hyde Park hit for nearly $2 million. State lottery officials have credited a recent game redesign with fueling these bigger advertised prizes.
Where It Sits In State Lottery History
Historical jackpot logs show the all-time Megabucks record still sitting at roughly $21.7 million, a prize split among multiple winners back in the 1980s. More recently, the largest single-ticket Megabucks score was $16.35 million in 2022. As noted by Lottery Post, this weekend's advertised jackpot comfortably ranks among the biggest in the game's history.
Game Changes That Pushed Payouts Up
Megabucks went through a significant overhaul in late 2023 aimed at juicing jackpots and improving non-jackpot payouts. The changes lowered the number matrix, bumped the per-play price to $2 and added a Monday drawing, all calibrated to make the top prize climb faster and hit higher levels more often. Those tweaks have indeed produced larger advertised jackpots with increasing regularity, according to game notes and reporting. Lottery Post details the rule changes and timeline behind the bigger rolls.
Odds And The Wider Weekend Picture
The odds of matching all six numbers and taking home the Megabucks jackpot sit at roughly 1 in 7 million, while the odds of winning any prize are about 1 in 42, according to CBS Boston. For anyone shopping around the lottery landscape, Lottery.net lists this weekend's Powerball jackpot at about $47 million and Mega Millions at roughly $215 million.
Tickets for Megabucks cost $2 per play, are only sold within Massachusetts and are available until roughly 9 p.m. on drawing nights, Boston 25 News reports. If you are planning to take a shot at the jackpot before Saturday's draw, play responsibly and double-check local cutoff times.
