
Projected changes to Mega Millions this April have been officially confirmed.
The Mega Millions Consortium announced on Monday some of the new adjustments coming to the draw game in 2025.
An increase in price will lead to larger starting jackpots, faster-growing jackpots, and an automatic multiplier with each purchase.
The changes will impact both states with online lotteries and retail lotteries across the country.
What the Mega Millions format change will include
Plans for Mega Millions changes have been in the works for a while.
Monday marked the first time anything was made official by the consortium. The Georgia Lottery Corporation supervises the game through the aid of other select state lotteries.
A press release confirmed that the new format will begin in April at a $5 price point. This is the first time Mega Millions has increased its price since 2017.
Along with the price announcement, the consortium also made official the following features:
- 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 breakeven prizes, meaning when a player wins, they’ll always win more than the cost of the ticket
According to the release, Joshua Johnston, the Lead Director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said this new format will help create jackpots exceeding $1 billion more frequently:
“We are creating a game that both our existing players and people new to Mega Millions will love and get excited about playing. 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.”
Odds to win Mega Millions jackpot to improve
The press release didn’t include some other details that have been reported.
However, in documentation from the Texas Lottery during an August commission meeting, more information on the changes was provided.
The price change was expected to take effect starting on April 8.
Odds and prizes will also be altered once the ticket price increases.
White balls will remain from 1-70, according to the report. However, the gold Mega Ball will drop from 25 options to 24.
With the slight adjustment to the number options, here’s how the odds will change for each winning ticket under the new format:
Mega Millions Winning Numbers (White Balls+Gold Ball) | $2 Ticket Odds | $5 Ticket Odds | $5 Ticket Prize (1X-10X) |
---|---|---|---|
5+1 | 1 in 302.6 million | 1 in 290.5 million | Progressive |
5+0 | 1 in 12.6 million | 1 in 12.6 million | $1-$10 million |
4+1 | 1 in 931,001 | 1 in 893,761 | $10,000-$100,000 |
4+0 | 1 in 38,792 | 1 in 38,859 | $500-$5,000 |
3+1 | 1 in 14,547 | 1 in 13,965 | $200-$2,000 |
3+0 | 1 in 606 | 1 in 607 | $10-$100 |
2+1 | 1 in 693 | 1 in 665 | $10-$100 |
1+1 | 1 in 89 | 1 in 86 | $7-$70 |
0+1 | 1 in 37 | 1 in 35 | $5-$50 |
Odds to win any prize | 1 in 24 | 1 in 23.07 |
When it comes to the automatic multiplier, how they are dispersed will be based on a field of 32 options on average.
Each multiplier has the following odds based on those 32 options:
- 2x: 1 in 2.13
- 3x: 1 in 3.2
- 4x: 1 in 8
- 5x: 1 in 16
- 10x: 1 in 32
The average value of a multiplier will be 3x.
Photo by Charlie Neibergall / AP