--- title: $1 Billion Mega Million Jackpots Could Become a Regular Thing Soon description: Mega Millions is restructuring its game and increasing ticket prices to make for a higher jackpot. Here's when the new structure debuts authors: - name: Jennifer Calfas url: https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 339 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Pets - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/jencalfas former_staff: true published: '2017-10-24T19:36:21.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T07:07:13.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - Lottery - onetime word_count: 323 canonical: https://money.com/mega-millions-ticket-price-billion-jackpot/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Mega Millions Lottery Jackpot Rises Past $600 Million](https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-457439667.jpg) You may have a chance to win $1 billion in the lottery — but it comes at a price. [Mega Millions](https://money.com/mega-millions-jackpot/) is changing its structure to increase the size of its jackpots starting Saturday, Oct. 28. The tickets for the lottery — currently played in 44 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands — will now cost players $2 instead of $1. The new structure is meant to increase the size of jackpots. The starting jackpots will make a big jump from $15 million to $40 million, and grow from there, according to lottery officials. That makes reaching a $1 billion jackpot like the $1.6 billion [Powerball](https://money.com/a-53-year-old-hospital-worker-won-the-largest-single-powerball-prize-in-history/) in 2016 more possible. In addition, the changes will also impact the odds of players winning the Mega Millions — making it harder to win big despite the potential for a larger prize. The game will be redesigned to have players choose five numbers ranging form 1 to 70 and one Mega Ball number from 1 to 25. The odds of winning the new Mega Millions will jackpot will rise from 1 in 258.9 million to about 1 in 302.575 million, and the odds of winning any prize will jump from 1 in 15 million to 1 in 24 million. “We have a demand for innovation to keep fresh, entertaining lottery games and to deliver the attention-grabbing jackpots," Mega Millions President Debbie D. Alford said in a [statement](http://www.megamillions.com/news-releases/mega-millions-enhanced-starting-jackpots-increase-to-40m-bigger-average-jackpots-more-millionaires) last week. So far, the largest Mega Millions jackpot was back in 2012, when three winners split $656 million. That compares to Powerball, which awarded a historic $1.6 billion prize to three winners in 2016. Players who aren't aiming for the jackpot, though, will still pay $1 to enter for smaller prizes. But those whose eyes are on the top prize can pay $3 for two entries to jackpot-only tickets, according to the lottery. That option is only offered in six states, according to the [Asbury Park *Press*](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2017/10/24/5-things-change-mega-millions-starting-saturday/792842001/). ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/mega-millions-ticket-price-billion-jackpot/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Making Money", "item": "https://money.com/making-money/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "$1 Billion Mega Million Jackpots Could Become a Regular Thing Soon" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/mega-millions-ticket-price-billion-jackpot/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/mega-millions-ticket-price-billion-jackpot/", "name": "$1 Billion Mega Million Jackpots Could Become a Regular Thing Soon", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2017-10-24T19:36:21.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/mega-millions-ticket-price-billion-jackpot/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/mega-millions-ticket-price-billion-jackpot/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T07:07:13.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "$1 Billion Mega Million Jackpots Could Become a Regular Thing Soon", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/07/gettyimages-457439667.jpg", "width": 3000, "height": 2000, "caption": "Mega Millions Lottery Jackpot Rises Past $600 Million" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jennifer Calfas", "url": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/jencalfas" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2017-10-24T19:36:21.000Z", "description": "Mega Millions is restructuring its game and increasing ticket prices to make for a higher jackpot. 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