SACRAMENTO — Mega Millions will cost you more to play, but state officials promise bigger jackpots and bigger wins more often.
That’s what’s in store starting April 8 for those who play the twice-weekly lottery game — drawn on Tuesdays and Fridays — in California or other states.
Currently players pay $2 per ticket and the starting jackpot has been $20 million, which has rolled over numerous times into the hundred of millions of dollars before someone won.
California Lottery officials said in a news release that beginning April 8, the cost per game will be $5, and starting jackpots will reset to $50 million. It will be the highest per-game cost of any of the state lottery’s eight draw games.
It’s 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 configuration was adopted in 2017, the release said.
The new game will feature bigger prizes with an automatic multiplier at every non-jackpot prize tier, as well as better odds to win the jackpot, better odds overall, larger starting jackpots and faster growing jackpots. Non-jackpot prizes in the new game will range from typically $10 to $10 million — versus the current range of $2 to approximately $1 million.
The release said overall odds to win any of the nine different matching number prizes will improve to 1:23 from 1:24 and to 1:290,472,336 from 1:302,575,350 for the jackpot due to the removal of one gold Mega Ball from the game making 1 to 24 numbers available on that part of a game ticket.
Carolyn Becker, a California Lottery spokesperson, said the change “is not only thrilling news for our players, it’s also really exciting for public schools in California. For every ticket of the new Mega Millions game sold in our state, an extra two dollars will go right to schools.”
Employees at locations where tickets are sold and some players were not sure how big an impact the changes will have on sales, saying it might take some time as players see what unfolds.
Vic Dang, an employee at a 76 gas station in Lafayette where a Mega Millions ticket worth $713,143 was purchased in January of 2024, said some players were already aware of the increased price and “were not happy.” He said it was too early to say if people would be playing less, if at all. But he said if the jackpots get really high, “they probably would play.”
An employee at a Go! Gas and Food in Oakland’s Montclair district echoed that sentiment. He believes there will be some decline in sales initially, but might pick up when players see the higher payoffs. The employee, who wanted to be identified only as Tony, said the higher cost per game “might encourage more people to play in a pool. It’s wait-and-see.”
Oakland resident Nancy Safford said she has played Mega Millions a few times a month but the price hike will at least temporarily have her play other games that are less expensive.
“I think a lot of people will feel the same way,” she said. She also thinks that perhaps the total jackpot amount could be capped with more money going to the other matching number prizes. If that happens, then “maybe I would consider playing again,” she said.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The release said the California Lottery has raised more than $46 billion for public schools through the responsible sale of its games since it began in 1985.