Mega Millions - Lottorate compare world lotteries

Mega Millions was the benchmark for multistate or multinational lotteries and was previously our number 1 of the 20 or so lotteries across the world that we have looked into - both in terms of size and real value offered to players. The $1,537m It paid out in October 2018 is the second biggest jackpot ever, and only just trumped by the Powerball in 2016. It has better average jackpots than most and a decent chance of winning the $1m second tier prize. If you go for the megaplier option you also get better second prizes than its nearest 'rival' the Powerball. Despite the bigger jackpots these days it has slipped down our rankings since the odds and price changes in late 2017.

At around 18m tickets per draw, this is one of the biggest lotteries in the world (#5 at last check) although when a big jackpot nears, the number of tickets sold can hit 50m! From 2016 to 2015, however, the average number of megamillions tickets sold dipped by more than 10%, maybe explained by the arrival of the headline-grabbing $1bn+ Powerball jackpots, its nearest 'rival' for your money in the US. This is probably one reason for the recent price increase (which does at least deliver bigger jackpots).

The odds of hitting the jackpot have increased over the years from 53m to 76m to 175m to 258m and are now 302 million to 1. Megamillions have done this by increasing the numbers of balls needed to strike it rich. On the one hand this means that you have a far smaller chance of hitting the jackpot these days but on the other hand, when your numbers do come up, the jackpot will be so much higher. There's been plenty of criticism of the odds increase with many believing that it's all just a ploy to make more money and pay out less but in reality, those who design lottery games do also realise that they're competing with all sorts of other games and draws out there and they have to make it attractive. The big advantage of longer odds is that jackpots roll over more frequently. This creates press interest which in turn piques players' interest and sales and the jackpots begin to grow even faster...!

The average jackpot on Mega Millions when hit is around $150m. But at this figure, ticket sales haven't increased massively from their normal level. This is because there's been some jackpot fatigue on Mega Millions in the last few years. In 2011, for example, ticket sales would really start to pick up when the jackpot reached $250m. More recently, the same jackpot needs to get to $350m for people to pile in. Whilst this jackpot 'fatigue' sounds like a negative thing, actually it's great for the jackpot hunters out there who have less competition around the $300m mark and are thus less likely to share their winnings.

The jackpot represents a huge % of prize value and when it is hit, it makes up some 85% of all payouts. When jackpots are lower they still represent around 40% of total payouts. The good thing about the megaplier option is that by increasing payouts of non jackpot wins, the lottery becomes much less a 'winner takes all' prospect. At minimum jackpot level, playing with the megaplier, for example, the jackpot is only 10% of total payouts. In this context, the megaplier option is popular as it helps to spread the love a lot further!