We all knew it would eventually happen... Come October, I'll be buying less.

Why am I not surprised. Much like bridge tolls - the price keeps going up.

Will the minimum jackpot go up?

Surprise!

Well, Not Really!

Play On America, but It'll Cost You More!

That was my exact thought when I read about this.

Harder to win the big one, just more great news to screw the loyal players.

Oh boy.  I was thinking about this also.  The MM was going to go up as well and follow the powerball.  I wonder what the multiplier will look like.

I guess the occasional buyer room that I'm in, is about to get a little more crowded.

MegaMillions Management Greed Trumps MegaMillions Player Greed!

The changes will alter the probability of winning, making it harder to win the jackpot, but easier to win the second prize. 

Not great for California who uses the pari-mutuel system to award non jackpot prizes.  The second prize starts around $85k  and goes up $85-100k each rollover.

I AGREE   Bleu101 we just keep getting it without Vaseline........

NO I will no longer be Playing!

Count me in the group that will now play less.

Yet another game we won't be playing till the jackpot hits 10 Times the odds... $2.6 Billion... now $3.0 Billion in Oct.

If anything good from these changes, it's leaving more money in our pocket by not playing.

I usually only buy one play for Powerball and a couple for MegaMillions...looks like I will be just buying one of each from October onward. When I win, I will cease playing the lottery. I can't understand why jackpot winners always say they will continue buying tickets even though the odds of hitting the jackpot again are astronomical. I adopted the philosophy of giving myself at least one chance to win, so I don't drop $20, $50, or $100 just because the annuitized jackpot amount is over $100 million or so.

 As the dollar becomes worth less each year because of inflation, prices continue to increase. 

 I will continue to play both MM & PB. I am a loyal fan. 

 I play the minimum amount required, One ticket per game per draw. It only takes one to win.

o well. and ITA Noise-Gate. smh

Good bye four quarters, easy fun playing, for a buck, to hello "let's rise it up more like  P-Ball and decrease such people winning it ever in life."

I am glad i only play the big games like the Power B, and Mega sometimes.

.

Why are they greedy?  They're an entire "lotto government".
I'm just one individual who's always been in the USA.

But they just want to advertise the largest jackpots,
but then the whole world gets in on it.

I hope they also limit MM, and PB to just USA players.
I'd be happier with a significantly smaller jackpot prize.

So, October and then $2 ?
I'd have to seriously think about my lotto budget then.

Greed sucks.

Nvm wow I'm glad I stopped playing this game.

By increasing it to $2 bucks I assume that they want PB size jackpots.  But unless they make the prizes comprisable to PB, it is going to take forever for the MM jackpot to increase to those amounts.

MM was always good for a huge jackpot out of left field. Their math is easy to understand, double the ticket price, double the revenue.

My guess is regular players will adjust and buy less lines. Others are probably going to buy 5 plays for 10$ instead of 5 for 5$, paying with a single bill is more handy, there is no "real" pain point for the little players, it's 100% more, yes, but people see it as entertainment anywayanyone?

"Chances of winning the jackpot will decrease from 1 in 258.9 million to 1 in 302.6 million"  - Just great, same $ as PB but worse odds. We can expect PB to screw with their formula again - 3$ tickets 

Did I miss the part that adresses starting jackpots? I hope they'll compete with PB there too, and not just ticket price.

You might agree that once in a blue moon pari-mutuel does pay more for secondary prizes.  Sometimes though I cringe when I see the winner losing out on hundred of thousands of dollars which is usually the case!

As soon as the powerball did this I was turned off and obviously the odds.  The mm i might not play much and wonder what they will offer on the multiplier. 

Everyone is better off playing just state lotteries.  Is there a way of doing Cash 5, Quinto, and the other ones.

Everyone is better off playing just state lotteries.

You would think so, but as I have griped repeatedly, the number of superlotto winners in Calif has dropped over the past 2 years. In 2015 there was no winner for 6 months and then in 2016-2017 there was no winner for 8 or 9 months and the jackpot only increases a million each rollover. 

I see what you're saying that I don't understand something obviously the lottery tickets going up with the big lotteries the tolls.

They keep raising prices on different things so why?  Pretty soon nobody's going to buy the big game tickets once October hits and more people find out. 

As a matter of fact I talked to someone a couple years ago and the person stated that it's better to hit state lotteries.   The odds are better. He is right.

The new Mega Millions starting jackpot will increase from $15 million to $40 million.  The third place prize will increase from $5000 to $10,000.  Several of the lower prizes will increase also.  However, the bigger third place prize and the bigger lower prizes will be harder to win.

I haven't seen any word on changes to the multiplier.  Looks like New York state threatened to drop Mega Millions unless changes were made.   On average, 65% to 70% of lottery dollars are spent on scratch tickets.   I predict that in a few years either Mega Millions or Powerball will be discontinued since there is no longer any significant difference between the games.

Better odds and less attention, too.

That's $25M in consolation then, at least.

I don't understand why they put more pressure on MM, it was trotting along nicely. Making it less attractive is a pointless strategy when it is competing with PB and they have all these other games.

Maybe in 2 years they'll be merged and there will be 4 drawings a week. 

They should push for online sales instead.

Several of the lower prizes will increase also.  However, the bigger third place prize and the bigger lower prizes will be harder to win.

I'm not impressed:

If they do go with scratchers only, I cant see people buying them like they do draw games.  When a scratcher does have a multimillion dollar prize, the price of the ticket is usually $20-$30 bucks.  People are not going to lay out money at the price on a regular and steady basis.

It's a garbage game now that you barely win on now if ever, I won't be playing it at $2. Before they changed it the last time you used to be able to win something on a regular basis, now it's virtually never, the only reason I would play is that it was only $1, at $2, no way, I would be better playing a scratch off ticket. 

If the jackpot hits a billion I might buy a ticket.

In our opinion, this is what the payouts should be.

We developed an equitable payout formula that should not be economically worse than the old payouts.

The Payout Odds are the right most values, i. e. 1 in Payout Odds.

Wanna get US excited about playing, use this payout structure and you will.

I know, most people buy $20 bucks when the jackpot is astronomical, and then they lose $20 and say oh they got me never again. Supply equal demand. I'm like that too, I buy one and say ok I hope so of course. If I'd ever win I'd buy the most comfortable pad in the universe and say who likes it. Lol. I mean I'm alright but still there's always <snip> to deal with. Figures they'd be dragging along the old Babylon lines calling people fools and such. They should cut it in half. .50 cent ticket. Or get 2 free back, don't see that anymore. All I see is more money more money more money. How that goes, we all know, more problems. Lotteries must be having problems huh. Takes a lot of money to buy those bonds, lol. Good luck, hope I win tonight.

Why even offer both MegaMillions and Powerball.  They are basically the same game now with similar odds.  Just drop MegaMillions and only offer Powerball or visa versa.  The only benefit to MegaMillions was the lower ticket price.  They can add one drawing to whichever game they keep to ensure steady ticket revenue throughout the week.

Double the ticket price and increase the odds of winning the jackpot? Oh hell no! I'll be sticking with my states 5+1 jackpot game from now on.

Now Mega Millions will be as bad as Powerball. I quit playing PB after their change and will probably do the same with MM once the change happens...

Somewhere in the not too distant future, prices for PB/MM will reach $5.00 a line. Guess what?....People will still keep on playing.

Seems rather counter productive that they would do both at the same time but they are...

Reading the following , makes my head hurt: follow along

Chances of winning the jackpot will decrease from 1 in 258.9 million to 1 in 302.6 million, while the chance of winning any prize — which will run from $2 to the jackpot — will go from 1 in 14.71 to 1 in 24."

Huh? How is this a decrease?? From 258 to 304??

From 1 in 14 to 1 in 24?? 

Granted snowballs have a better chance freezing in Satan's abode better then my winning. But golly jeepers , how is this decreasing the odds?? Answer: its not.

The $2 price does not really bother me but the 256 trillion billion million to 1 odds DO bother me.

If they believe I will keep buying tickets they can blow me and eat my $#!t.

I quit playing PB (except when it looked like the jackpot was going to be hit) and for the same $2 reason, I won't be playing MM much either.

Well I have to go to the library and get the new version of the California Lotto Frequency update. I wonder the Mega Millions Change their matrix on October 31st, 2017?

The record jackpot score to beat is $1.5864 Billion Dollars set by Powerball.

You can skip the formality of getting a ticket and just send the money straight to the MUSL.

There was a thread once about at what ticket price would you stop playing and some said they'll play no matter how high the price.

I didnt play PB until 2 years ago because of the $2 price. But then i noticed in the winter/spring of 2015 people were hitting PN jackpots with a lot more frequency than MM. I think the average was about 1x a month which was enough to sell me.  Now that all stopped when they messed with the odds.  Now what attracted me to MM was the $1 price and they've done away with that, too. Not sure how PB and MM will differ except that MM odds will be worse and they will offer a slight increase in smaller prizes offset with a decrease in other smaller prizes.  smh...

I say we riot! 

Finally, I'm out of both Powerball and Megamillions. I guess the next step is to double the prices of the pick 3 and pick 4 games. Or better yet for them, keep the prices the same for pick 3/4 games but only use 9 numbers in their ball machines and not tell us which number won't be used for that day. That'll show us!!

Time to drug test those lottery people.

When the odds go against your favor, they are said to be "decreasing", while in actuality, the odds "number" increases. This increase is because of the number of new combinations added to the mix. Thus, with this rule change, over 46 million new combinations are being added, INCREASING the "numerical" odds, but DECREASING the "chance" you have at winning.

If the overall odds "number" also increases, then the game is getting harder to win, period. 1 in 14 to 1 in 24 is almost twice as hard to win as before.

Just an explanation.

I am wondering how long it will be before one of them goes to $3.00. I will not be buying as many, that's for sure.

Here in Texas people play scratchoffs for as much as $50. Scratchoffs sales account for 78% of lottery sales here. The $5 scratch tix are the best sellers, so if people drop $5 on a scratchoff, what's $2 twice a week to win millions?

Understand the difference in odds, and the fact that scratchoffs are instant gratification, but it's all in what someone is willing to spend and how much they need or want to win.

I don't like the increase either, but.....where else can a person spend a dollar, or 2 dollars, and have a shot at millions. Even a very small shot, but a shot none the less.

Texas Lotto odds are 1 in 25,827,165 for a cash jackpot that is 4.86 million, for $1 a ticket.

The odds to win a million on PB and MM are much lower at $2 for PB, $1 for MM, soon to be $2. I would still trade $2 for even a shot at a million dollars. At my age, after taxes it would still set me up to retire.

I suppose in the end, it's about perspective, where a person is in their life, and what amount of money would be enough should Lady Luck decide to visit.

Most likely it will be $5 lol

"The rule-changes will have players pick from 70 numbers for the first set of picks, and 25 numbers for the second.

Currently, players pick from 75 and 15 numbers, respectively".

Take out 5 white balls and add 10 mega balls = formula for a winning ticket.

I would have like to have seen it go away just to see what the businesses next move would have been.

4/26/17

Increasing the price for the Mega Millions game to $2.00 will definitely keep me away from this game in the future.

I Agree

it already is $3.00 if you include Powerplay on your ticket.

Now you can buy every Megaball with Megapiler for just $30, come October doing that will cost $75 YIKES.

The government say inflation is low to non-existent, and yet prices for most goods, and especially taxes, continue to go up and up. Doubling the price and worse odds to boot. $75 will sharply reduce number of MM players wheeling the Megaball. Not all bad, though. Better chance of MM jackpots rolling. Plus, many who currently wheel, will save a bundle by playing MM less and/or other games instead.

While it's likely MM / PB will stay at $2 ($3 for Megaplier / PowerPlay), it seems only a matter of time before many state lotteries introduce $5 numbers games. As another poster pointed out, $5 will likely be next price-point. Though I could see PB / MM going with a $3 price-point for base play with more emphasis on the Megaplier / PowerPlay upsell, doubled from $1 to $2, to get players to pony up $5. Many PB players already spend $3 per play, so it seems well in the realm of possibility.

As it stands now, many various in-state / regional games are a better value and more economical for players. Sure, the prizes are far less, but winning $50K, $250K, or whatever is better than winning a few hundred dollars or, more often, even less. There are various MM / PB simulator sites out there, and it's an eye opener. Even after many thousands of simulations, it's disconcerting to see the highest prize won on a ticket often being only a few hundred dollars, if that. MM / PB odds are really that bad, with MMs about to get even worse.

I think that 2.50 to 3 dollars might be the right price for a combination. Also the lower ranks should pay less and rank 1 should pay a tiny bit more. The rest is for the State to build a wall or streets and bridges somewhere? :) They should also add 5 numbers, make it 5/80 instead  of 5/75.

If you guys would be less looking at giant jackpots, we eventually would get more fairer games and better payouts. But, you don't!

if you want smaller jackpot sizes and easy to win odds, there's other lottery games you can play. Mm and PB are for those who want to lavishly off their winnings, not to merely get a nice bonus.

On the contrary, many players do, which is a dilemma for lotteries overly reliant on PB and MM. More savvy lotteries are increasingly pushing in-state jackpot and regional numbers games, such as Cash4Life, etc. While most occasional, casual lottery players will play MM / PB with little regard to price nor a care in the world of the odds, regular players are the ones the lottery needs to bring in and retain day to day, week to week to keep the cash flowing in at a steady pace.

The $1.5 billion annuity jackpot a few years back did much long-term damage to MM and PB; less regularly playing due to jackpot fatigue. Doubling the price with worse odds is a desperate measure to grow revenue from less players. It will work for awhile, but eventually, there likely won't be enough play to justify both games...

Wouldn't surprise me if PB and MM were eventually merged into one game costing $3 ($5 with Megaplier / PowerPlay) with 2 or 3 draws per week down from the current 4.

KOE:

"YIKES" ...UR right & usually like a lotta people buy 15 mega balls with  purchase but, &  ...there is always butt out there somewhere, I buy 15 + 5 = 20 tickets for $20.00 total      anyway already cut out PB @ $2 bucks...(except hugh JPots who can resistXXXX) now MM        is going to get drastically cut...and other games will pick up my bucks. The thing that makes        me cut back is the fact a Psyko (me) feels likewe are just feeding the lottery directors more & more salary & perks because it always works out they get huge raise & all of there benefits      go Up^Up^^^ again. They have already cut the H outta education funding & scholarships        and put lottery money into the general funds & who knows where that goes>>>>>>>???       

          $$$$$ Just my 2 cents              

Good thing my Season Mega Millions ticket from Mass. expires in August.

If it was possible to merge, it would have been done years ago to improve sales by only having one option to put your money into. but i do agree that we're probably going to see one game in the future as one of them will be discontinued.

This is disappointing news for regular weekly players.  Yet, I will continue to buy 1 row w/the multiplier for each Mega Millions and Powerball game drawings.  However, I will no longer be able to buy more rows as jackpots get over $300 Million Annuitised values.

Unrelatedly, I hope that Powerball will copy Mega Millions with their 2nd place prize, offering multiplier of: 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, and 10X.  [Their current limit of $2 Million is too low when there are apx. only 3 winning tickets sold in each larger populace state per year.]

I will probably also continue to buy [3 times per week for a $1 row]  my state's biggest online 6 numbers game, when the advertised annuitised jackpots reach the average winning amount of $7.3 Million or more. Sadly, this game's jackpot only gets won apx. 3 times per year.

Cheers everybody ...

"The move is meant to boost headline-grabbing jackpots..."

Nope, not at all.

The move is meant to increase the profitability of the game's greedy owners. 

And who cares if it's easier to win the second prize when the money they collect from the 100% price increase (from $1. to $2.) will enrich them UNjustly which will be added to even MORE money they will make from investing UNwon jackpots that might have been won under the soon to be older rules?

Who DO they think they are fooling?

Not me.

Not you.

I'm not willing to waste TWO dollars to win just one million dollars when I can take that second dollar to play another ticket to win a large Cash 5 jackpot or a regular Pick 6 jackpot.

I hope Lottery Post and its posters will initiate a boycott (noncooperation with this injustice) that will hurt their sales and force a return to more favorable number fields.

As for me, I will do as I have already been doing: focusing on games with more favorable number fields.

And whatever YOU choose to play, good luck to you!

the reason for decrease is the odds are against you to win the game. So when the numbers go up your chances to win go down.

Well that gives systems players six months to use their accumulated data to try and win MM, after that they will have to start over.   It will be interesting to see if after four years of 1:14.7 odds of  winning at least $1 and 1:18.5M of winning a million if they will continue with 1:23.9 odds of winning at least $2 and 1:12.6M of winning a million when PB offer 1:24.8 odds of  winning at least $4 and 1:11.7M of winning a million for the same price.

Off topic, but to say Obama won the lottery in 2008 by becoming president and comparing it to simply playing the lottery is a bit misguided. 

The only way i could see you having a point is if like mega or power ball...is if a single individuals vote had made the difference and won the popular vote. With an election, there's many people playing for only 2 or 3 possible combinations. Democrat or republican. The odds almost reverse. 258 million people voting for 1 or 2 candidates. Sure one could argue that the very event was phenomenal, but it's not the same class of phenomenons. 

That said, horrible idea what mega millions is doing and its like a slap in the face. Charging more for lower odds. I could see if they kept the price the same and changed the matrix...even then 1 thru 70 is hard enough let alone 1 thru 35.

I am certainly getting sick of jackpots becoming more and more a longshot to win. No doubt state lotto's will follow suit and further water down there games after this

I am not a regular MM or PB player at this point because of how difficult it is to even get $1 back and how the odds are so long that its hard to imagine any scenario in which I actually win

At $2 a line and 300M to 1 chance to win ,, No thank you

Will only buy MM or PB when jackpots get absurd and even then it will be just one line in future

Well golly gee....what will the difference be between the two games?

Why don't they just have one national lottery by combining the the two games, selling tickets for $3 and start with a $80M jackpot...(Isn't that what they are aiming for?)

This didn't make it. 

Lotto*America

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Lotto*America was the first lottery game offered by the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL). It was replaced in 1992 by Powerball, which remains MUSL's flagship game.

In 1987, six states and the District of Columbia banded together, since, on their own, they could not create jackpots into the tens of millions of dollars that had become commonplace in the most populous lottery states. MUSL's first game was called "Lotto*America" even though only those six states and Washington, D.C. took part, although technically it could be played on both the East Coast and West Coast.

L*A's first version was a pick-7-of-40 game, rather than the pick-6 games that had become wildly popular in U.S. lotteries. Matching four numbers won a fixed prize of $5; matching at least five won a parimutuel prize. Matching all seven won the jackpot, whose odds were roughly 1 in 18 million, at the time the toughest odds in the country. The top prize was a 20-year annuity; there was never a cash option, even though a few games did offer one when L*A ended.

During the middle of its four-year run, L*A became a more traditional pick-6-of-54 game; unlike the first version, players got two games for $1. The jackpot odds actually became more favorable at 1 in 13 million per dollar; however, overall odds were much tougher, since four numbers were still needed to win the lowest prize level. This version was entirely parimutuel.

In some of its jurisdictions, L*A was known by that lottery by a different, "more local" name. For instance, in Minnesota, L*A was called Lotto Minnesota.[1]

Several states joined MUSL during the era of L*A. One of them, Maine, decided to leave MUSL when L*A ended; Maine did not rejoin MUSL until 2004.

MUSL's rapidly growing population base resulted in another change, in 1992, to the original version of Powerball, which had then-unheard of jackpot odds of 1 in 55 million. However, the unique structure of the new game allowed players to win by matching just one number.

Original jurisdictions (game began February 1988):

• District of Columbia
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Missouri
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• West Virginia

Joined in progress:

• Wisconsin (August 1989)
• Montana (November 1989)
• Idaho (February 1990)
• Maine (July 1990)
• Minnesota (August 1990)
• Indiana (October 1990)
• South Dakota (November 1990)
• Kentucky (January 1991)
• Delaware (four days later)

Except for Maine, the above lotteries were the original lineup for Powerball when it began in April 1992.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotto*America

the american perception is: Play four times a week at two different jackpot amounts. (ergo: Twice the opportunity). Whereas if you have just one national game....its one hit set, one group of winners. We like the myth of having choices of how to lose our money