Fiona Simmons September 9, 2024 2 min read

Mega Millions Ticket Price to Increase in April, Reports Say

As previously announced, Mega Millions would raise the price of its tickets from $2 to $5, marking an increase of over 100%

Image Source: Shutterstock.com

Mega Millions, one of America’s favorite lottery games, is set to raise the price of its tickets, in line with its earlier plans. The controversial price hike is expected to take place in April, potentially changing how people view the game.

The Game Is Set to Change

As previously announced, Mega Millions would raise the price of its tickets from $2 to $5, marking an increase of over 100%. This would be the first time Mega Millions has increased its pricing since October 2017 when it doubled the cost of a ticket from $1 to $2.

Officials argued that the changes would allow Mega Millions to remain competitive with Powerball while retaining the qualities that make it unique. While experts believe that the change is for the better, it is still expected to have an effect on sales.

Players who might be worried about the price change, however, should keep in mind that they have at least several months before it is ultimately implemented. According to a report by PlayiLottery, the price hike is expected to be implemented on April 5, 2025.

The Price Isn’t the Only Thing Changing

Luckily, the price is not the only thing that’s changing. While the $5 tag might not be to everyone’s liking, Mega Millions will actually make its grand prize slightly easier to win by reducing the gold Mega Ball range from 25 balls to 24 balls.

While this may not seem that significant at first glance, it will greatly alter the chances of someone winning the jackpot. The white ball range will remain at 1-70 despite an earlier proposal to reduce it as well.

In addition to that, the new Mega Millions is expected to sport a refurbished look, further optimizing the player experience.

Speaking of Mega Millions, the game’s jackpot just soared to $800 million with a lump cash option of $401.8 million. The latest drawing may have failed to crown a jackpot winner but elected a whopping seven Match 5 winners. Six of them, from California, Florida, Illinois, New Hampshire and Texas, took prizes of $1 million each. A single player from Ohio, on the other hand, took $2 million home as they had the Megaplier feature active.

Suggest a Correction

Fiona Simmons

Journalist

Although Fiona doesn't have a long-spanning background within the gambling industry, she is an incredibly skilled journalist who has built a strong interest in the constantly growing iGaming network. The team at Gambling News is glad to have her on our roster to help deliver the best stories as soon as they hit. Aside from writing, she loves to dabble in online casino games such as slots and roulette, both for her own enjoyment and also as research to better improve her understanding of the industry.

Lottery September 9, 2024

New BGC CEO Grainne Hurst Targets Growth and Stability

Mega Millions Ticket Price to Increase in April, Reports Say

Lottery September 9, 2024

Mansion Group Wins Second High-Profile Court Case in Gibraltar

7 Comments

Lavern Tucker
September 9, 2024 at 9:24 pm

Reply

Raising the price of mega game definitely will lose players, bad enough, you have 2 games a week!!!
- Michael
  September 17, 2024 at 8:17 pm
  
  It will stop me from playing twice a week
Judy Van
September 10, 2024 at 3:51 pm

Reply

I’ll reconsider how many tickets I buy each week!!! That’s not a good move…
Vivian Puryear
September 10, 2024 at 8:42 pm

Reply

That is one of the worst moves the lottery could even consider making . The decrease in sale may not be felt immediately, but it will. Now whose being GREEDY
Anthony
September 10, 2024 at 8:54 pm

Reply

Oh well I guess I won’t be buying mega millions tickets anymore.
Jack frost
September 10, 2024 at 11:55 pm

Reply

It started out a $1, they raised it to $2 and jackpots started at 40 million and then Covid they went back to 20 million to start and it’s still there. Not worth paying $5
I See you
September 11, 2024 at 3:16 pm

Reply

I think that was a big mistake and I also have to be say that it seems to me that all the time the most jackpots are won in the largest states. Oshkosh Wisconsin has never won a big jackpot and they have been playing the game for a very long time so who’s fixing the game the greedy lottery that’s who