Rules Around the Mega Millions You Need to Know Before You Play (2024)

FAQs

What are the rules to play Mega Millions? ›

To play, pick six numbers from two separate pools of numbers: either five different numbers from 1-70 for the white numbers, and one number from 1-25 for the gold Mega Ball. You win the Mega Millions jackpot by matching your numbers to all six numbers pulled in the drawing.

As for the Mega Ball, only six numbers have been drawn more than 100 times: 1, 3, 9, 10, 15, and 7. Only 9 and 15 have not been pulled during this jackpot run, Lotto America shows. Your odds at the Mega Millions jackpot are slim – but can you increase them?

The Mega Millions, like any lottery, is a game of chance. Glickman suggests that the best way to increase your chances of winning is to buy more tickets, within reason. For example, if the probability of winning the jackpot is 1 in 302,575,350 with one ticket, it becomes 2 in 302,575,350 if you buy two.

You can, however, increase your chances by simply buying more tickets. Buying 100 tickets would cut your odds from 1 in 302.6 million to roughly 1 in 3.026 million. If you want to purchase nearly every possible number combination, that would set you back about $600 million.

How many Mega Millions winning numbers do you need to match to win a prize? You only need to match one number in Mega Millions to win a prize. However, that number must be the Mega Ball, worth $2.

The Megaplier doesn't change or improve your odds of winning a Mega Millions prize and can't guarantee that you'll win a prize. But if you do win a non-jackpot prize, Mega Millions Megaplier will significantly boost your total prize amount!

USA Mega, which tracks Mega Millions statistics, says the most common Mega Millions numbers are 10, 3, 17, 14 and 46 for the first five numbers.

In the 1990s, Romanian-Australian economist Stefan Mandel and his small team entered the lottery and won. Over and over and over again. The feat, of course, wasn't achieved through having a really lucky set of numbers.

11. $536 Million (Indiana) On July 8, 2016, an Indiana couple won this mega jackpot after buying 5 Quick Pick tickets on a road trip. The winning family was able to remain anonymous by accepting their prize through a law firm in the state.

To better your chances of winning any lottery, you have to buy more tickets, he said. The more tickets, the more chances of choosing the right combination of numbers.

What if you get the Mega Ball only? ›

Matching only the Mega Ball

This one number must be the Mega Ball to win a prize. Matching the Mega Ball wins you $2. The odds of winning matching just the Mega Ball are one in 37. If you add the Megaplier to your ticket and the prize is tripled, your $2 prize turns into $6.

Picking your own numbers doesn't change the odds of winning. But, picking random numbers does increase the odds that if you win, no one else wins.

Buy more than one ticket.

Make sure to pick a different set of numbers for each ticket, or you won't improve your odds at all! Your odds of winning the jackpot (as of 2023) with one ticket are approximately 1 in 303 million. So, if you buy 2 tickets, your odds become 1 in 156.5 million.

Your chances of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are roughly 1 in 302.6 million. Your odds are slightly better when it comes to Powerball, where you have a 1 in 24.87 chance at any prize, ranging from $4 to the jackpot. Your chances of actually hitting the jackpot are about 1 in 292.2 million.

If your ticket matches two numbers and the Mega Ball you'll get $10 but the odds to get there begin to skyrocket to 1 in 693.

You use minimum to describe an amount which is the smallest that is possible, allowed, or required.