Bits & Odds

California Mega Millions (October 2026)

Tuesday · Friday · $5 a play · no add-ons sold here

Latest draw · October 6, 2026 Drawn for all 47 jurisdictions
Advertised jackpot
$364 million
Jackpot odds
1 in 290,472,336
Any prize
1 in 23.07
A line here
$2

The short version

California pays every Powerball and Mega Millions tier pari-mutuel, so the fixed prizes in the national chart are not what a California ticket wins — and it is the only state that sells no Power Play. At the jackpot standing after the October 6, 2026 draw, the jackpot alone is worth about $0.47 of a $5 ticket. We do not add the lower tiers to that here, because in California they are not the published amounts and we do not yet hold California's own per-draw payouts.

What is different in California

Ticket price
$5 a line
Every $5 Mega Millions ticket has carried a built-in multiplier since April 2025; there is no separate add-on to buy.
Prize structure
Pari-mutuel
Every tier is split among that draw's California winners instead of paying a set amount, so the $4, $7, $100, $50,000 and $1,000,000 in the national chart are not what a California ticket wins.
State withholding
None
Has income tax but exempts California Lottery prizes. Federal withholding of 24% applies on top, everywhere.
Minimum age
18
California State Lottery's own rule. Five jurisdictions set it higher.

Rules read from powerball.com and California State Lottery on 2026-09-22. Withholding rates and the calculator.

What a California ticket is worth right now

The advertised jackpot is $364 million. The cash value is about $147 million, because the headline is a 30-year annuity and nobody takes it. At that jackpot our sales model puts the chance of having to share a win at enough that a winning ticket is worth 93% of the prize on average rather than all of it. California withholds nothing, so only the federal 24% comes off. What a California winner keeps after tax, beside every other state.

Ticket price
$5
no add-ons here
Jackpot term, before tax
$0.47
lower tiers excluded — see below
After California tax
$0.47
jackpot term only
California keeps
Nothing
no state withholding

These figures are the jackpot term only. Everywhere else we would add what the lower tiers return — $0.82 per ticket — but those are the fixed national amounts and California does not pay them; its tiers are split among its own winners and move every draw. California State Lottery publishes the actual amount each tier paid, draw by draw, and until we hold that history there is no honest California figure to add, so we add nothing rather than borrow a number from the other 46 jurisdictions. The national chart is on the Mega Millions page.

Hot and cold numbers

The drawing is national, so the frequencies are too — there is no California hot number, only a Mega Millions one. Over 933 draws of the current 5/70 + 1/24 matrix, 10 has come up most (87 times against 67 expected) and 11 has waited longest, 57 draws.

10 has come up most often, 87 times. Each number averages about 67 over 933 draws, and whichever number happens to lead normally finishes around 19 ahead. 10 is 20 ahead, so this is an ordinary spread rather than a streak. 45 has come up least, 53 times.

Mega Millions hot & cold, with the significance test Check your numbers against every draw Every past draw Odds & payouts

California's own draw games

Mega Millions is the same everywhere. These are not — California State Lottery runs them, and we hold their full history.

All California lottery results →

California Mega Millions questions

Can you buy Power Play in California?
No. California is the only jurisdiction that does not sell Power Play, because its prizes are pari-mutuel — a fixed share of sales — and a multiplier cannot be guaranteed against a pool that has not been counted yet.
Is Double Play available in California?
No. 30 of the 48 Powerball lotteries offer Double Play and California is not one of them, so a California ticket tops out at $2 a line. powerball.com publishes the list, and says more lotteries may add it later.
How much tax does California take from a Mega Millions win?
California withholds nothing — has income tax but exempts california lottery prizes. The 24% federal withholding still applies, and your federal bill is settled at filing. The calculator does the arithmetic.
Are Mega Millions prizes in California the same as the national prize chart?
No, and this is the difference that catches people out. California pays every tier pari-mutuel: the money for each tier is split among that draw's California winners, so the $4, $7, $100, $50,000 and $1,000,000 in the chart on powerball.com are what a ticket in the other 47 jurisdictions wins, not what a California ticket wins. The actual amounts move draw by draw with sales.
How old do you have to be to play Mega Millions in California?
18. California State Lottery sets it, and a winning ticket has to be claimed in the jurisdiction where it was bought.
Where were the California Mega Millions numbers drawn?
In Tallahassee, Florida, like every Mega Millions drawing — one drawing serves all 47 jurisdictions. The numbers on this page are the same numbers as everywhere else; what the page adds is what they are worth to a California ticket. The national analysis is here.

Where these facts come from

The winning numbers are cross-checked against more than one official source before they go up — every source and every correction is listed. The California-specific rules were read from powerball.com and California State Lottery on 2026-09-22, and bao draws jurisdictions re-reads the published lists on every run and fails if either has moved. How the expected values are computed.