In April, the price of a Mega Millions lottery ticket will jump from $2 to $5, a change that officials say will come with better odds, bigger wins and more money for California public schools.
In April, the price of a Mega Millions lottery ticket will jump from $2 to $5, a change that officials say will come with better odds, bigger wins and more money for California public schools.
The price hike is driven by a desire to generate bigger and faster growing jackpots and to differentiate Mega Millions from other lottery games, Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, told The Times.
“Sales really start to ramp up around [jackpots of] $700 million, $800 million and they really go wild when they hit a billion dollars, so obviously there’s an appetite out there for those eye-popping jackpots,” Johnston said.
Mega Millions will also be rejigging odds of winning — from one in 302.6 million — to something slightly less astronomical.
Johnston said the precise details on the new odds will be released in February, but noted that they will include decreasing the number of balls used in the drawings.
