Big changes coming to Mega Millions

VW independent staff/submitted information

Mega Millions is getting ready for what’s being called a “mega” overhaul with plans to be bigger and better than ever next spring.

When the new game launches next April, players will notice several differences, with the biggest one being tickets costing $5 per play, instead of $2 each. Lottery officials said it’s the game’s second price adjustment since the first ticket was sold more than 20 years ago and the first change since the current game matrix was adopted in 2017. Other changes noted by Mega Millions:

• Improved odds to win the jackpot
• Bigger jackpots more frequently
• Larger starting jackpots
• Faster growing jackpots
• A built-in multiplier on every play, automatically improving every non-jackpot win by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X – up to $10 million for matching the five white balls.
• No break even prizes, meaning when a player wins, they’ll always win more than the cost of the ticket.

“We are creating a game that both our existing players and people new to Mega Millions will love and get excited about playing,” said Joshua Johnston, Lead Director of the Mega Millions Consortium. “We expect more billion-dollar jackpots than ever before, meaning creating more billionaires and many more millionaires as the jackpots climb, plus this game will continue the important legacy of supporting great causes everywhere Mega Millions is played.”
 
Since Mega Millions launched in 2002, it has produced six winners of $1 billion or more jackpots. Since the last change in 2017 more than 1,200 players have become millionaires, an average of 3 millionaires per week.

Mega Millions is a national game with tickets sold in 45 states, including Ohio, along with Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia.