The Mega Millions multi-state lottery has announced a series of updates that it plans to implement in April 2025. It claims the changes will offer players bigger jackpots more frequently.

The Mega Millions Consortium didn’t provide much in the way of details, but listed the following list of changes people should expect to see:

• Improved odds to win the jackpot
• Bigger jackpots more frequently
• Larger starting jackpots
• Faster growing jackpots
• A built-in multiplier on every play, automatically improving every non-jackpot win by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X – up to $10m for matching the five white balls
• No breakeven prizes, meaning when a player wins, they’ll always win more than the cost of the ticket

“We expect more billion-dollar jackpots than ever before, meaning creating more billionaires and many more millionaires as the jackpots climb, plus this game will continue the important legacy of supporting great causes everywhere Mega Millions is played,” said Joshua Johnston, Lead Director of the Mega Millions Consortium in Monday’s announcement.

the price of a Mega Millions ticket will increase from $2 to $5

Though “improved odds,” “bigger jackpots,” and “no breakeven prizes” sounds great, there is one big catch: the price of a Mega Millions ticket will increase from $2 to $5.

Because of structural changes to both Mega Millions and Powerball in recent years, most of the largest jackpots in US lottery history have come this decade. Of the 11 jackpots of at least $1bn, just two (2016 and 2018) came before 2021. Mega Millions has six of the 11 billion-dollar jackpots.

The largest jackpot in US lottery history was $2.04bn, won on November 7, 2022, by a Powerball player in California.