The price for a chance to be a millionaire will rise in April. Mega Millions officials announced tickets will cost $5 per play, which is more than twice the current price of $2.
The price increase is one of several changes announced by the lottery game on Monday. In a “mega” overhaul meant to enhance the game, officials promise:
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- 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.”
When the new and improved game launches next April, tickets will cost $5 per play. This is only 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.
Since Mega Millions launched in 2002, it has produced six winners of billion-dollar jackpots. Since the last change in 2017 more than 1,200 players have become millionaires, an average of 3 millionaires per week.