Lottery Luck Continues in Louisiana – Another Big Win

(KMDL-FM) The whacky world that is Lotology, yeah, it's an actual thing, has been doing a lot of head scratching and not ticket scratching with this week's big lottery wins. Friday night, the multi-state lottery game, Mega Millions, created another big money winner in Louisiana.

READ MORE: Powerball Explosion! 11-Louisiana Tickets win a Million or More

This past Wednesday, the Powerball game went "off script" and created 11 big winners in Louisiana. Not just "wins" but 11 wins of one million dollars or more.  There were a multitude of other winners in other states. And yes, two tickets did match the numbers needed to take the $143 million jackpot home.

How Much Was The Mega Millions Jackpot for Friday, May 1, 2026?

This is why Friday's Mega Millions drawing is so interesting. Did the big wins in Powerball generate more players? The jackpot for Mega Millions certainly was enticing. According to the official site for the game, players were hoping for a number match that could earn a prize of $178 million. Here's how the drawing played out.

To no one's surprise, there was not an avalanche of winning tickets from Friday's drawing as there was from Wednesday's Powerball game. No tickets sold across the game's footprint matched the numbers needed to claim the game's jackpot prize.

Louisiana Ticket Wins One of Mega Millions' Largest Prizes Friday Night

There were no Match 5 Million winners either. In fact, the big winner in Louisiana is actually one of four tickets that earned a prize of $10,000 or more. All of the tickets matched four white balls and the Mega Ball. Two of the tickets had a multiplier assigned of x2, while the other two tickets had a multiplier of x3.

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So, the Louisiana winner gets a prize of $20,000. Let's see if that's you who is getting a nice "bonus" for the summer. Here are the numbers for Mega Millions on May 1, 2026.

16   21   27   41   61   Mega Ball 24

We have not been informed of the point of purchase for Friday's Mega Millions winner. The Louisiana Lottery website will update those details later today. Also, since we're talking about Unclaimed Prizes from the lottery, you can always find details on some of the bigger wins across the state via the Unclaimed Prizes tab.

READ MORE: Top 10 Adult Bars in Lafayette, Louisiana

Tonight, Powerball will begin a new jackpot; the top prize is $20 million, but there is also a little-known addition to "new jackpot" Powerball games. Anytime the jackpot prize is less than $50 million, the game will include a x10 multiplier ball in the Power Play pool. So, if you choose to play, you might want to spend the extra dollar on Power Play.

Lotto is by far the most interesting game in Saturday's drawing menu. Based on my unscientific calculations, the game should have produced a jackpot winner about two months ago. It has not. So the jackpot in Lotto is $1.375 million. No, the record amount is considerably higher, but it's very seldom, at least in my observations, that Lotto makes a climb over $1.1 million.

Easy 5 is the other "divorced dad" game on Saturday. Why the odd moniker? It, too, like Powerball, is starting over. Almost, Easy 5 has had one drawing since its last big win, so that game will draw for a top prize of $60,000 Saturday night.

While it is fun to discuss big lottery wins and large payouts, the truth of the lottery is that most tickets purchased result in a loss of money for the player. So, if you have a gambling problem, help is available. Call 1-877-770-STOP (7867). The call is free, and the referrals to professional confidential counseling for you and your family are available at no charge to you. Good Luck.