Half a billion dollars in jackpots up for grabs this weekend

The Mega Millions and Powerball games offer you two chances at life-changing prizes this weekend with jackpots together topping more than half a billion dollars.

The first chance comes with Friday’s Mega Millions drawing that offers an estimated annuity jackpot of $370 million. The estimated cash value is $254.1 million. The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302.5 million.

The second chance comes with Saturday’s Powerball drawing where the jackpot stands at an estimated $157 million as an annuity prize, or $108.27 million cash. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

With nine ways to win, thousands of North Carolinians win prizes in each of the drawings. As North Carolinians try to win the jackpots, some are winning other big prizes:

• A $1 million Mega Millions prize was won by a Wake County man in the April 13 drawing.
• $100,000 Powerball prizes were won by a Rutherford County woman and a Currituck County man in the April 17 drawing and by a Yadkin County man in the April 3 drawing.

It’s great fun to see our players  winning prizes like these, We would love to see someone in our state bring one of these jackpots home.

Players can buy $2 Powerball or Mega Millions tickets at any lottery retail location, through Online Play on the lottery’s website, www.nclottery.com, or by using the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.