The price of a Mega Millions ticket is going up from $2 to $5 beginning April 5, the second increase in the lottery’s 28-year history since its debut as The Big Game in 1996.
Officials who run the lottery say there will be bigger prizes won more frequently, along with slightly improved odds. Among the key changes are that the jackpot will start at $50 million instead of $20 million, and a randomized multiplier for non-jackpot prizes will be included with every play, automatically improving every win by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X — up to $10 million for matching the five white balls.One of the gold Mega Balls will be removed from the draw, improving the odds from 1 in 25 to 1 in 24.
Mega Millions and Powerball
California was the 45th member of the Mega Millions and Powerball lottery, joining in 2013. Powerball has 48 members with Wyoming, Puerto Rico and Mississippi joining after California. Mega Millions has 47 members with Puerto Rico not offering it.
Powerball basics: The minimum Powerball bet is $2. In each game, players select five numbers from a set of 69 white balls and one number from 26 red Powerballs; the red ball number can be the same as one of the white balls. The drawing order of the five white balls is irrelevant. Drawings are held three times weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time, at the Florida Lottery’s headquarters in Tallahassee.
Your odds of winning
Powerball is known for producing some of the largest lottery jackpots in history, including the record-breaking $2.1 billion jackpot won by a ticket purchased in Altadena, California, in 2022.
1 in 290,472,336 (as of April 5) for Mega Millions jackpot
$5 entry, matching all five white balls in any order (numbered 1-69) and the one red Powerball (numbered 1-26).
The overall odds of winning any Powerball prize are 1 in 24.87. Based on a $2 play. Mega Millions is 1 in 24.2, but changes to 1 in 23.08 on April 5.
How it works
Jackpots start at $50 million. If no one wins, the jackpot increases at least $10 million per roll. If there is more than one winner, the jackpot is equally divided.
Cash
Option must be selected within 60 days of the Lottery authorizing payment.
Annuitized
Paid in 30 annual installments.
Taxes
Lottery prizes are exempt from California state and local personal income taxes, but the Internal Revenue Service requires the Lottery to withhold federal taxes from many prizes. The federal rate is based, in part, on a claimant’s resident status (25% for U.S. citizens and 30% for people not marking citizenship status on the Lottery Claim form).
How often people play the lottery
Everyday: 1%
Weekly: 10%
Monthly: 13%
Yearly: 7%
Inconsistently: 49%
Never: 20%
2024 total sales and percentage of sales
Scratchers | $6.56 billion | 70.74%
Powerball | $890.7 million | 9.5%
Mega Millions | $705 million | 9.6%
SuperLotto Plus | $266 million | 2.87%
Hot Spot | $425 million | 4.58%
Fantasy 5 | $182.2 million | 1.97%
Daily 3 | $179.1 million | 1.93%
Daily 4 | $35.7 million | 0.38%
Daily Derby | $30.4 million | 0.33%
Sources: Multi-State Lottery Association, California State Lottery, Book of Odds, Gamblers Anonymous, searchlogistics.com, California Department of Education. Former Focus Page Editor Charles Apple contributed to this report
Originally Published:
