The Mega Millions lottery will have its first drawing with new $5 tickets, which were introduced to improve the odds of winning the jackpot slightly. The new odds of winning are 1 in 290,472,336 compared to 1 in 302,575,350. This improvement is due to the removal of one gold Mega Ball from 25 to 24 in the mix. Before the price increase, tickets had cost $2 each, with the increase intended to provide larger non-jackpot prizes. Previous changes to the game include doubling the ticket price in 2017 and lowering the starting jackpot from $40 million to $20 million in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The new game scheme will raise the starting jackpot to $50 million.
The Mega Millions Consortium believes that players will be interested in larger non-jackpot prizes and that this new game format will deliver just that. The first drawing with the new $5 tickets is scheduled for 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday, with an estimated jackpot of $54 million. The changes made to the game aim to provide players with better odds of winning any prize and bigger prizes overall, moving forward with a new game structure that aims to please players while still providing exciting jackpots.
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