New enhancements to multi-state Mega Millions lottery are due to kick in Tuesday, with better odds and bigger prizes promised for players.
Tickets for the lottery have more than doubled in price from $2 to $5, though this means that the starting jackpot will now be a whopping $50 million.
According to Mega Millions a wager multiplier – which is randomly assigned for every play at time of purchase – is built in for the price of the $5 ticket.
This means players can win a minimum of $10 and up to $10 million on non-jackpot prizes, up from $2 to $1 million for current prizes. Every winning ticket is guaranteed to pay out at least 2X the price, according to the company.
In addition, with a bigger starting point for jackpots, the pots are expected to grow faster and get to higher dollar amounts more frequently in the new game.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot under the old rules was $1.602 billion and the winning ticket was sold in August 2023 in Neptune Beach, Florida.
Players will also see better odds to win a jackpot, having improved from 1 in 302,575,350 to 1 in 290,472,336, due to the removal of one gold Mega Ball from the game. The new game will feature 24 Mega Balls instead of the current 25.
Overall odds of winning any prize are improved slightly from 1 in 24 to 1 in 23.
“People really want big jackpots,” said Joshua Johnston, the Washington state lottery director who heads the Mega Millions game. “We expect to see a sales lift on this.”
The first Mega Millions draw under the new prize structure is due to take place at 11 p.m. on April 8.
