The Mega Millions lottery is one of the two biggest lotteries in America (the other one being Powerball) and is played in 36 jurisdictions. There are two Mega Millions lottery draws each week, and these are held every Tuesday and Friday. The Mega Millions lottery jackpot has a starting level of $12 million and players must match 5 main numbers from the range 1 to 56 and 1 Mega Ball number from the range 1 to 46 to win the jackpot or – if several players win – an equal share thereof. The odds of winning a Mega Millions lottery jackpot are 1 in 175,711,536.
Play the Mega Millions Lottery Online
In addition to the Mega Millions lottery jackpot prize there are eight secondary prize levels. The numbers required to win a prize on each level, and the odds of doing so, are as follows:
Numbers Matched |
Odds of Winning |
Prize |
5 main numbers + Mega Ball |
1 in 175,711,536 |
Jackpot |
5 main numbers |
1 in 3,904,701 |
$250,000 |
4 main numbers + Mega Ball |
1 in 689,065 |
$10,000 |
4 main numbers |
1 in 15,313 |
$150 |
3 main numbers + Mega Ball |
1 in 13,781 |
$150 |
3 main numbers |
1 in 306 |
$7 |
2 main numbers + Mega Ball |
1 in 844 |
$10 |
1 main number + Mega Ball |
1 in 141 |
$3 |
Mega Ball only |
1 in 75 |
$2 |
The odds of a player winning any Mega Millions lottery prize are 1 in 40.
In some participating states a Mega Millions lottery player can exercise a Megaplier option. This increases the cost of each Mega Millions lottery ticket played, but multiplies any non-jackpot prize that the player wins by 2, 3 or 4 times, according to a number that is determined at random during the draw. For example, if a Mega Millions lottery player chooses to take the Megaplier option and wins $10,000 by matching four main numbers and the Mega Ball, and the Megaplier is 4, that player would win 4 x $10,000 = $40,000.
The Mega Millions lottery throws up some extremely large jackpots from time to time. The largest so far was worth $390 million, and that was shared between two tickets on Tuesday 6 March, 2007. The biggest Mega Millions lottery jackpot last year (Friday 28 August) was worth $336 million, and again two tickets won – one was purchased in the state of California and the other in New York.
Megamillions and other Lottery games
Previously states in the United States of America were only able to offer either Megamillions or Powerball; however at the beginning of 2010 all states had the option to offer both lotteries. The MegaMillions and Powerball first produced winners in both games in the state of New Jersey. Euromillions, the lottery for Europe, often produces rollover jackpots with multi-millionaires created in these draws whilst Italy’s very own lottery, the Superenalotto has also been known to create mammoth jackpot draws when the rollovers occur.
