New Mexico Lottery Announces Changes to Mega Millions® Game

09/19/2013

Higher Starting Jackpot; $1 Million and $5 Million Prizes

ALBUQUERQUE – A higher starting jackpot and prizes of $1 million and $5 million are coming to the multi-state Mega Millions® game.

  • The $12 million-starting jackpot will increase to $15 million;
  • If not hit, a jackpot will climb by at least $5 million after each drawing;
  • The prize for matching five white balls will increase from $250,000 to $1 million;
  • Players who add Megaplier® to a wager will have the opportunity to win a top non-jackpot prize of $5 million, up from $1 million.

New Mexico Lottery CEO Tom Romero said the changes go into effect Oct. 19 for the Oct. 22 drawing.

“These changes will dial up even more excitement,” Romero said, “and when it comes to lottery games, there’s nothing more exciting than watching a jackpot climb higher, knowing that you have as much of a chance as anyone to be the player who strikes it big.”

To enrich the game’s top prizes, the mix of numbers will change. Players will pick five numbers from 1 to 75, up from 1 and 56. The number of yellow balls will decrease from 1 to 46 to 1 to 15. Six of the game’s eight non-jackpot prizes will be decreased.

Under this format, the odds of winning any Mega Millions prize will improve to 1 in 15 from 1 in 40. The odds of winning a jackpot will increase from 1 in 176 million to 1 in 259 million.

The ticket price will remain $1. The Megaplier feature will also remain $1 per play.

Multi-draw tickets purchased between now and the Mega Millions re-launch will include only those drawings through Oct. 18. Starting Oct. 19, players can resume purchasing a multi-draw ticket for as many as 10 advance draws.

The New Mexico Lottery joined the Mega Millions game in January 2010. Mega Millions is played by 45 lotteries. Drawings are Tuesdays and Fridays at 9 p.m. MT

At $656 million, Mega Millions holds the record for the world’s largest jackpot. It was won by players in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland in March 2012.

Legislative Lottery Scholarships

Since its inception in 1996, the New Mexico Lottery has raised $576 million for education and more than 82,600 students have attended college on Legislative Lottery Scholarships.

Follow the New Mexico Lottery on Facebook (www.facebook.com/nmlottery) and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/NewMexicoLottery).