Being a billionaire costs a lot.
The price for playing Mega Million will soon increase by more than double as part of a plan to revamp the game and increase cash payments. The company announced on Tuesday.
The so-called “new version” of the beloved lottery game is expected to offer a major award to all winners starting April 8th.
However, lottery officials have promised to receive better prizes at a more expensive price tag.
In addition to the big prizes for both the large jackpot winners and the fewer award winners, the lowest prize will at least double the cost of the ticket, officials said.
The company also says the improved game will bring better odds for wins, bigger starting jackpots and faster growth jackpots.
“Beyond the Big Jackpot, players said they want a bigger non-jackpot award, and that's exactly what this new game has to offer,” Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, wrote in the release.
Because the new game assigns players a random multiplier, “Players who win $2 in the old game will take home $10, $15, $20, $25, or $50 for this game,” Johnston said.
“People who win $500 under the old rules will take home $1,000, $1,500, $2,500, $2,500 or $5,000 in this new game.
The Mega Millions said the new rules will improve the odds of getting a jackpot from 1 to 290,472,336 at 302,575,350 as one gold megaball was removed from the game. The new version will have 24 instead of the 25-mega ball, officials said.
The starting jackpot is also steep at $50 million, but the current game starts at just $20 million.
According to the release, all winning tickets cost at least twice as much to play the game, given that they won $10 on tickets and won $10 on tickets.
The overall odds of winning a prize will improve from one in 24th to one in one person, officials added.
The increase in ticket costs is just the second price of the game in the 20-year history of the game.
This change takes effect after the final drawing of the current game on April 4th.
“Unless someone wins a jackpot on April 4, 2025, the jackpot in the current game will roll into new games and continue to grow with ticket sales from new games,” the release said.
Since the game began in 2002, a $700 million jackpot has been won in seven states, with over 1,200 players becoming billionaires, the company said.
