Delaware Mega Millions (September 2026)
The short version
Delaware sells Mega Millions on the standard terms: the national prize chart is what you are paid, and both $1 add-ons are available. At the jackpot standing after the September 18, 2026 draw, one $5 ticket bought in Delaware is worth $1.22 — 24 cents on the dollar, and Delaware withholds nothing from it.
What is different in Delaware
- 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
- Fixed, as the chart
- The published amounts are what you are paid — Delaware does not adjust them for sales.
- State withholding
- None
- Exempts lottery prizes from withholding. Federal withholding of 24% applies on top, everywhere.
- Minimum age
- 18
- Delaware Lottery's own rule. Five jurisdictions set it higher.
Rules read from powerball.com and Delaware Lottery on 2026-09-22. Withholding rates and the calculator.
What a Delaware ticket is worth right now
The advertised jackpot is $244 million. The cash value is about $122 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 95% of the prize on average rather than all of it. Delaware withholds nothing, so only the federal 24% comes off.
The withholding only comes off the jackpot term here, not off the whole figure. Nearly all of a ticket's non-jackpot value sits in the $4.00 and $7.00 tiers, which no state withholds on; taxing those too would push the number down in a way that happens to flatter our own conclusion, so we do not. The draw-by-draw chart behind this is on the Mega Millions page.
Hot and cold numbers
The drawing is national, so the frequencies are too — there is no Delaware hot number, only a Mega Millions one. Over 928 draws of the current 5/70 + 1/24 matrix, 10 has come up most (86 times against 66 expected) and 11 has waited longest, 52 draws.
10 has come up most often, 86 times. Each number averages about 66 over 928 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. 51 has come up least, 52 times.
Delaware Mega Millions questions
- Can you buy Power Play in Delaware?
- Yes. It costs $1 a play on top of the $2 ticket and multiplies every prize below the jackpot by 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 — the 10 only when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or less. We price that extra dollar at about 46 cents at a large jackpot and 50 cents when the 10× ball is in the drum.
- Is Double Play available in Delaware?
- Yes. For $1 your numbers go into a second drawing straight after the main one, with its own prize table topping out at $10 million. Every prize in it is fixed and none of them rolls, which makes it the one multi-state bet whose expected value is exact: about 53 cents per dollar. 30 of the 48 lotteries sell it.
- How much tax does Delaware take from a Mega Millions win?
- Delaware withholds nothing — exempts lottery prizes from withholding. The 24% federal withholding still applies, and your federal bill is settled at filing. The calculator does the arithmetic.
- Are Mega Millions prizes in Delaware the same as the national prize chart?
- Yes. Every prize below the jackpot is a set cash amount in Delaware, exactly as the national chart prints it. Only California pays pari-mutuel instead.
- How old do you have to be to play Mega Millions in Delaware?
- 18. Delaware Lottery sets it, and a winning ticket has to be claimed in the jurisdiction where it was bought.
- Where were the Delaware 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 Delaware 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
Delaware-specific rules were read from
powerball.com and
Delaware 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.