What changed in Mega Millions in April 2025?
The redesign, which started with the April 8, 2025 drawing, changed the price and the prize structure at the same time. The draw schedule didn't change: Tuesday and Friday at 11 p.m. Eastern.
| Before April 8, 2025 | From April 8, 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Ticket price | $2 | $5 |
| White balls | 1 to 70 | 1 to 70 (unchanged) |
| Mega Ball | 1 to 25 | 1 to 24 |
| Jackpot odds | 1 in 302,575,350 | 1 in 290,472,336 |
| Odds of any prize | About 1 in 24 | About 1 in 23 |
| Starting jackpot | $20 million | $50 million |
| Match 5 white balls | $1 million (more with Megaplier) | $2 million to $10 million |
| Multiplier | Optional $1 Megaplier | Built into every ticket: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x |
The current rules and full prize chart are on the Mega Millions how-to-play page. The multiplier is assigned at random when you buy and printed on the ticket; Mega Millions puts the odds of getting 10x at 1 in 32. Our explainer on why Mega Millions costs more than Powerball covers the reasoning the game gave for the change, and is there still a Megaplier? covers the add-on that was dropped.
Did the $5 ticket raise more money?
The evidence published so far says no. For a price increase of 150% to pay off, sales would have had to fall by less than 60%. They fell further than that in at least one large state.
A working paper on SSRN, "Pricing a Participation-Dependent Product: Evidence from the Mega Millions Redesign", by Karsten Hansen (UC San Diego), Kanishka Misra (Boston College) and Vishal Singh (NYU Stern), estimates that Mega Millions revenue fell by 23% to 28% after the change. As reported by Lottery Geeks, the authors found New York sales dropped from roughly 1.9 million tickets per drawing to about 560,000. They put the revenue-maximizing price between about $3.30 and $3.90.
The authors attribute roughly half of the decline to a feedback loop: fewer tickets mean the jackpot grows more slowly, smaller jackpots attract less attention, and that further reduces sales. The rest is players reacting to the price itself. They found no sign that the money moved to Powerball, scratch-offs or online gambling.
State figures point the same way. Massachusetts Lottery executive director Mark Bracken told Boston.com in April 2026 that the state's Mega Millions sales fell from $111 million in the year before the change to $85 million in the year after, while prizes paid rose slightly, from about $14 million to $15 million.
Which players came out ahead?
It depends on how you played.
Regular players pay the most for the change. Two plays per drawing, twice a week, cost about $35 a month at $2 a play. At $5 a play, the same habit costs about $87 a month.
Occasional players who buy only when the jackpot is huge pay an extra $3 a play, but they've had fewer big jackpots to chase. The largest Mega Millions jackpot under the new rules is $983 million, won in November 2025. None has reached $1 billion.
Lower-tier winners are better off per ticket. Matching five white balls without the Mega Ball pays $2 million to $10 million depending on the multiplier, against a $1 million base before. Mega Millions says non-jackpot prizes are now 2x to 10x larger than under the old game, and any winning ticket pays at least $10. You pay $5 a play for that.
How did the change affect Powerball?
At $2 a play against $5, Powerball became the cheaper national game, and it pulled ahead in sales. According to figures compiled by LottoReport.com and reported by CNN Business in December 2025, Mega Millions sold 495 million tickets ($2.5 billion) after the April 8 change, while Powerball sold just over 2 billion tickets ($4.1 billion) over the same period. Mega Millions had sold more tickets than Powerball in 2024.
Powerball then produced two of its three largest jackpots ever in 2025: an estimated $1.79 billion on September 6, shared by tickets in Missouri and Texas, and $1.82 billion on December 24, won in Arkansas, according to Powerball's draw results. The working paper's finding of no measurable shift in spending suggests these runs weren't simply Mega Millions money moving across, though both games' jackpot sizes depend heavily on sales. Our Powerball vs Mega Millions comparison sets the two games side by side.
Which Mega Millions jackpots have been won under the new rules?
Seven, according to the official jackpot history, as of early October 2026:
| Date | Jackpot | Cash value | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 18, 2025 | $112 million | $49.3 million | Ohio |
| June 27, 2025 | $348 million | $155.5 million | Virginia |
| November 14, 2025 | $983 million | $453.6 million | Georgia |
| December 2, 2025 | $90 million | $42.0 million | New Jersey |
| March 10, 2026 | $536 million | $245.6 million | Illinois |
| March 17, 2026 | $60 million | $27.1 million | Ohio |
| July 28, 2026 | $803 million | $345.5 million | Florida |
Recent drawings, the current jackpot and number statistics are on our Mega Millions page, and the full run of jackpots is charted in the Mega Millions jackpot history.
Where that leaves the game
For players, Mega Millions is now a more expensive ticket with better lower-tier prizes and almost unchanged jackpot odds. For the lotteries that sell it, the published data so far shows less revenue than the $2 game brought in. Whether you keep playing at $5, switch to the $2 Powerball or stop is a budget decision. The jackpot odds for both games are around 1 in 290 million.
Mega Millions $5 change FAQ
Is Mega Millions still $5 a ticket?
Yes. Every Mega Millions play costs $5 and includes a random multiplier of 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x on non-jackpot prizes. The Megaplier add-on no longer exists. Powerball still costs $2 a play.
Did Mega Millions sales go down after the price increase?
Yes. A working paper by economists at UC San Diego, Boston College and NYU estimated revenue fell 23% to 28%, with New York ticket counts down by about 70%. Massachusetts reported Mega Millions sales falling from $111 million to $85 million in the year after the change.
What are the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot now?
1 in 290,472,336, slightly better than the old 1 in 302,575,350, because the Mega Ball pool shrank from 25 numbers to 24. The odds of winning any prize are about 1 in 23.
How much does matching five white balls pay in Mega Millions?
$2 million, $3 million, $4 million, $5 million or $10 million, depending on the multiplier printed on your ticket. Before April 2025 the base prize was $1 million.
What is the biggest Mega Millions jackpot since the $5 change?
$983 million, won by a single ticket sold in Georgia on November 14, 2025, with a cash value of $453.6 million. The largest in 2026 so far is the $803 million jackpot won in Florida on July 28, 2026.
Sources: megamillions.com (How to Play, FAQs, Jackpot History, April 2025 announcement of the new game), Hansen, Misra and Singh working paper as reported by Lottery Geeks, Boston.com (April 29, 2026), CNN Business via Yahoo Finance (December 15, 2025), powerball.com draw results.
