Mega Millions jackpot to grow bigger, faster beginning with April 8 drawing, officials say

For once, inflation could be a good thing.

That, as Mega Millions, the lottery game that already has awarded seven jackpots in excess of $1 billion each, announced this week that prizes will be getting bigger faster following a reimaging of its payout pools.

The new version will debut following the last draw of the current game on April 4, with officials promising better odds and better payouts.

Also, bigger jackpots.

The new game will debut April 8.

"Beyond big jackpots players told us that they want bigger non-jackpot prizes and that's exactly what this new game delivers," Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, said in a statement this week, adding: "Players who had won $2 in the old game will now take home $10, $15, $20, $25 or $50 under this game. Those who had won $500 under the old rules will now take home $1,000; $1,500; $2,000; $2,500 or $5,000 in this new game. Non-jackpot prizes at every level are going up by 2X to 10X. That's the kind of value the new Mega Millions will deliver to our players at every single drawing."

Here's the new deal:

The new game will feature 24 Mega Balls instead of the current 25.

That will increase the jackpot odds from 1 in 302,575,350 to 1 in 290,472,336. Meanwhile, the overall odds to win any prize will improve from 1 in 24 to 1 in 23. 

Jackpots will now start at $50 million — instead of $20 million.

And games will include a built-in random multiplier, with every non-jackpot win increasing by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X. Automatically. That means those prizes in the new game will increase from $2 to $1 million under the current structure to $10 to $10 million starting April 8.

And Mega Millions officials expect new average jackpots will increase from about $450 million under the current structure to $800 million.

Of course, all this bang for the buck comes at a price.

The new tickets will cost $5 per play.

The current game costs $2 per play, though under the current structure players needed to pay an extra $1 per play to add a "Megaplier" — the kind of multiplier that now will be added automatically in the new game. The changes are the first since the current game structure was introduced in 2017 and second since the game was introduced in 2002.

Officials are hoping the price increase will be small potatoes vs. the lure of players winning more — and win more often.

Mega Millions tickets are sold in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Drawings are conducted Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET.

Officials said that if no one hits the jackpot in the current game's final drawing on April 4, that pool will roll over to the new game April 8.

Players with winning tickets will be paid under the game rules in effect at the time of their ticket draw, no matter when the prize is collected.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”