Mega Millions
Mega Millions is one of the most popular and widely played lotteries in the USA and is available in 45 states plus Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The jackpot starts at a guaranteed $50 million and frequently rolls over to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Learn all about the game, including how to play, right here.
How to Play
Mega Millions is simple to play. All you need to do is choose five main numbers from 1 to 70 and one Mega Ball number from 1 to 24. It costs $5 per line and you can fill in a playslip at any licensed lottery retailer.
To win, you must match your chosen numbers with those drawn in the lottery, and the more you match, the bigger your prize. You win the jackpot by matching all five main numbers plus the Mega Ball, while the lowest prize you can win is for just matching the Mega Ball alone. Head over to the Prizes page for more information, including the odds of winning in each category.
Draws take place every Tuesday and Friday in Atlanta, Georgia, at 11.00pm Eastern Time, and are broadcast on television across the United States. If you can’t tune in, go to the Numbers page to see the latest results, or use the Numbers Checker to find out if you’ve won a prize in an instant.
Mega Millions Multiplier
When playing Mega Millions, the $5 ticket cost includes a built-in multiplier feature. You’ll see a multiplier for each line on your ticket. This could be 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or 10x. If you win a prize, it will be increased by the value of the multiplier shown on your ticket.
The multiplier gives you the chance to win up to $10 million without matching all the numbers. You could even win as much as $50 just by matching the Mega Ball on its own.
The Prizes page includes some examples of how much your winnings can increase with the multiplier.
History of Mega Millions
Mega Millions has gone through several iterations and has seen numerous big winners over its lifetime, and today it stands as one of the biggest and best lotteries in the world.
It all started in 1996, when the predecessor to Mega Millions launched. It was called The Big Game, and tickets for the lottery were initially sold in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Virginia. The original format was similar to the Mega Millions of today, with players choosing five main numbers and one ‘Big Money Ball’.
In 2000 the game hit the headlines when two ticket holders split a $363 million jackpot. One half of the prize went to a swimming-pool installer from Detroit, Michigan, who won after spending $100 on a hot dog and 98 lottery tickets, and the other half went to a couple who owned a brewing company in Chicago, Illinois.
The nine-figure jackpot generated a lot of interest in multi-state lotteries and in 2002 several states, starting with New York and Ohio, joined the existing Big Game group. At around the same time, the lottery was rebranded to be called The Big Game Mega Millions, and some aspects of the lottery’s current format, such as the Mega Ball, were introduced. In February 2003, The Big Game was dropped from the name, and it became known simply as Mega Millions.
By the end of 2005, 12 state lotteries participated in Mega Millions, but it wasn’t until five years later that the lottery exploded in popularity, mainly thanks to a cross-sell expansion that allowed states to sell tickets for both Powerball and Mega Millions. Up to that point, they had only been able to sell one or the other, but after the New Jersey State Lottery sought permission to run both games, an agreement with the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) – the entity that facilitates and owns the rights to Powerball – was reached. The MUSL’s 23 member states began selling Mega Millions tickets on January 31st 2010, taking the total number of participating states to 35. By the end of 2014, the number of participants had risen to 46.
Mega Millions has gone through a number of format changes since then, including in October 2017, when the pool of main numbers to choose from was reduced from 75 to 70 and the Mega Ball pool was increased from 15 to 25. The idea, the operators said, was to increase the number of millionaires created by making it easier to match five numbers, while also creating larger and more exciting jackpots. The guaranteed minimum jackpot amount more than doubled at the same time, increasing from $15 million to $40 million, making it one of the largest starting jackpots in the world.
The changes had the desired effect when a new record was set for the largest Mega Millions jackpot on 23rd October 2018. The top prize grew rapidly to $1.53 billion before one winning ticket matched all five main numbers plus the Mega Ball. The lucky entry was sold in South Carolina, making it the state’s first Mega Millions win. The record was broken in August 2023 by a Florida player who won $1.602 billion.
In April 2025, the starting jackpot was raised to $50 million. The previous Megaplier feature was also replaced by the new, built-in multiplier, while the range of Mega Balls was reduced from 25 to 24. The odds of winning improved due to this update, although the cost of a ticket went from $2 to $5.