How To Play Mega Millions

TICKET PRICE
Mega Millions tickets cost $2.00 per play.

PLAY DAYS
Mega Millions drawings are held each week on Tuesday and Friday.

DRAW TIME
Each draw is made at 11:00 pm ET.

BALLS & NUMBERS

• Five white balls are drawn from a set of balls numbered 1 through 70.

• One gold Mega Ball is drawn from a set of balls numbered 1 through 25.

WIN CONDITIONS
You win if the numbers on one row of your ticket match the numbers of the balls drawn on that date.

WHERE TO PLAY
You can play Mega Millions in 47 localities in the United States: 45 states plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

DRAW RESULTS

• Mega Millions website: megamillions.com

• Video Draw: youtube.com/user/megamillions46/videos
  
  

PRIZE TIER
There are nine ways to win a prize, ranging from $2 to the jackpot. If no one wins the jackpot, the money is added back to the jackpot for the next drawing.

JACKPOT PRIZE PAYOUT
The winner can choose two options for the Mega Millions jackpot prize payment:

• Annuity option: The Mega Millions annuity is paid out as one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments. Each payment is 5% bigger than the previous one to help protect the winner's lifestyle and purchasing power in periods of inflation.
  

• Cash option: ​This smaller payment option is a​ one-time, lump-sum payment that is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool.

CALIFORNIA PRIZES
Prize amounts in California are paid on a pari-mutuel basis and will differ from the fixed prize amounts shown in the game results.

See details and prize amount at the California Lottery website: http://www.calottery.com/draw-games/mega-millions

MEGAPLIER
Megaplier is a Mega Millions feature to increase non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4 or 5 times.

Megaplier costs an additional $1 per play.

Before each Mega Millions drawing on Tuesday and Friday nights, the Megaplier is drawn from a pool of 15 balls. Five are marked with 2X, six with 3X, three with 4X and one with 5X.

This mix results in the following odds for each of the Megaplier numbers and their associated prize values:

ABOUT MEGA MILLIONS

Mega Millions, originally named The Big Game in 1996, is an American multi-jurisdictional lottery game offered in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as of 2023.

The initial concept of The Big Game was created by Michigan Lottery Commissioner Bill Martin and Illinois Lottery Director Desiree Rogers. It began in six states: Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Virginia, with the first tickets sold on August 31, 1996. The game was drawn weekly on Fridays.

In January 1999, Mega Millions introduced the option for jackpot winners to receive their prize in cash. By May 1999, New Jersey had joined The Big Game, becoming the only jurisdiction to participate before the game was renamed to Mega Millions in 2002.

Ohio and New York joined the consortium on May 15, 2002, which marked the beginning of The Big Game Mega Millions, retaining the original gold ball logo.

The yellow ball in the Mega Millions logo was replaced with six stars, representing the original consortium members, in February 2003.

Mega Millions is administered by a consortium of its 12 original lotteries and is drawn at 11 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday and Friday evenings, including holidays, at the WSB-TV studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

As of October 28, 2017, the minimum advertised Mega Millions jackpot is $20 million, payable in 30 graduated yearly installments that increase by 5% each year, unless the cash option is chosen. The jackpot increases when no top-prize winner is found.