Mega Millions to raise ticket prices for first time in 7 years. Here’s what to know
Mega Millions players will soon have to fork over a few more dollars if they want to play the national lottery game.
Tickets will cost $5 per play starting in April — just one of multiple changes unveiled Monday, Oct. 7, as part of a “’mega’ overhaul” of the current game matrix, according to the Mega Millions Consortium.
It’s the first price adjustment since 2017 when the price per play jumped from $1 to $2.
New pricing will roll out in 2025 alongside “enhancements” officials said will increase lottery players’ odds of walking away with a jackpot win.
For starters, a multiplier option will be built into every play, “improving every non-jackpot win by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X – up to $10 million for matching the five white balls,” according to Mega Millions.
Officials also promised larger starting jackpots.
Other changes include:
- Bigger jackpots, more frequently
- Faster-growing jackpots
- No breakeven prizes, “meaning when a player wins, they’ll always win more than the cost of the ticket”
“We expect more billion-dollar jackpots than ever before, meaning creating more billionaires and many more millionaires as the jackpots climb,” Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in the release.
“Plus, this game will continue the important legacy of supporting great causes everywhere Mega Millions is played,” he said.
Mega Millions has had six billion-dollar jackpot winners since it launched in 2002, according to the release.
The jackpot stood at an estimated $129 million as of Oct. 7. No one has won the grand prize since Sept. 10 when a ticket sold in Texas matched six numbers to win $800 million, with a $404.2 million cash value.
What to know about Mega Millions
To score the jackpot in the Mega Millions, a player must match all five white balls and the gold Mega Ball.
The odds of scoring a jackpot prize are 1 in 302,575,350.
Tickets currently cost $2 and can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times vary by state.
Drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This story was originally published October 7, 2024 at 12:23 PM.