Mega Millions To Limit Buying Advance Tickets As $5 Drawings Get Closer
With the new price starting April 8, players will temporarily be unable to purchase tickets for drawings past that date
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If buying Mega Millions tickets in bulk for future drawings is your bag, you’re going to have to slow your roll — but just temporarily.
The price of a Mega Millions ticket is going up from $2 to $5 starting April 8, and that means we are now in range of when buying future $2 tickets is being curtailed.
The last day to purchase a 20-draw ticket is next Tuesday, Jan. 28, at 9 p.m.
The rest of the Mega Millions multidraw options will be stepped down as follows:
- 10-draw ticket: Tuesday, March 4
- 5-draw ticket: Friday, March 21
- 4-draw ticket: Tuesday, March 25
- 3-draw ticket: Friday, March 28
- 2-draw ticket: Tuesday, April 1
It was back in May 2024 that Lottery Geeks broke the news that Mega Millions was moving to $5 per ticket, and now the PR machine is revving up for the huge change.
Among the changes accompanying the higher price point: a larger starting jackpot; slightly better odds of winning (from 1-in-302.5-million to 1-in-290.5-million); a built-in, automatic prize-multiplier; and no break-even prizes.
This marks the second time in Mega Millions’ 20-year history that the price of a ticket will change. It was originally a $1 game.
Fast jackpots
Under the new plan, the jackpots are being “fast tracked,” with the starting jackpot set at $50 million, up from $20 million. The average jackpot size is expected to be a whopping $803 million.
Additionally, the current “Megaplier” option — in which a player, for an extra $1, can boost their winnings on all prize levels except the jackpot by anywhere from 2x to 5x — is being reimagined. With the price hike, the multiplier will come standard, and there’s also a 10x added to the stew. Which means it will be sometimes possible to match all five white balls — a 1-in-12-million shot — and win $10 million.
As a result of the built-in multiplier, there will be no break-even prizes. At worst, for players who match just the gold Mega Ball, they’ll double their money with the lowest multiplier, the 2x.
As for the overall odds, one gold Mega Ball is being removed, going from 25 of them to 24.
The announcement about the timing of the multidraw ticket purchasing came from the Louisiana Lottery.
“The new Mega Millions game should further diversify the Louisiana Lottery’s product portfolio,” said Louisiana Lottery President Rose Hudson. “With Powerball and Mega Millions having different starting jackpots, draw nights, and game features, we are giving our players more choices than ever before in how to play multistate, multimillion-dollar jackpot games all week long.”
On Saturday, April 5, the multidraw option will return fully to the game.
