Mega Millions lottery is more than doubling the price of a ticket to $5

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — The cost of a Mega Millions ticket is more than doubling, but the multi-state lottery game is promising that the bigger price comes with better odds.

Beginning in April 2025, a ticket will increase in price to $5 from $2. The price will spark a “new and improved game” that includes improved odds to win and bigger prizes, lottery officials announced Monday.

It’s the second time the price of a ticket has increased in Mega Millions’ 22-year history: In 2017, the price jumped from $1 to $2 — the same cost of a Powerball ticket. That’s also when Mega Millions adopted its current format of choosing six total numbers from two different pools – and when all the numbers match, including the gold Mega Ball, the player wins the jackpot.

Since those changes, the jackpot has breached the billion-dollar mark six times including, most recently in 2023, when a record-breaking $1.6 billion ticket was won in Florida. Notably, of the lottery’s top 10 biggest-ever jackpots, three occurred this year.

Mega Millions said that the increased ticket price will cause larger-starting jackpots, as well as faster-growing jackpots. There will also be no “breakeven prizes,” meaning that every winning ticket will be more than the cost of a $5 ticket.

Additional details of the tweaked game will be released in the coming months.

“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,” said Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, in a release.

Mega Millions is available to play in 45 states plus Washington, DC, and the US Virgin Islands. Drawings occur on Tuesday and Friday nights at 11 pm ET.

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