Mega Millions Embarks on a New Era After Major Changes

What’s Been Updated?

The changes came into effect after the drawing on Friday, April 4, and were applied to all tickets bought for the latest draw. Here’s a rundown of the key updates:

• The number range for the Mega Balls has reduced from 25 to 24
• Ticket price has gone from $2 to $5
• A built-in multiplier has replaced the optional Megaplier
• No more ‘breakeven’ prizes - the minimum payout is now $10

Go to the 2025 Changes page for full details. The starting jackpot has also been raised to $50 million, and it was just above that at $54 million for Tuesday night’s draw.

No Jackpot Winner

The winning numbers for April 8 were 10, 16, 50, 60 and 61, with a Mega Ball of 17. No tickets matched all the numbers, but a total of 217,904 prizes were paid out and more than $4.2 million was given away altogether.

While the number of winners was down on the previous drawing, the payout figure of $4.2 million was significantly higher than the $1.8 million for last Friday’s game – largely thanks to the addition of the multiplier.

The new multiplier is automatically included on every ticket, so there is no Megaplier anymore. The multiplier provides an opportunity to win up to 10 times the base amount for non-jackpot prizes.

Across the U.S. there were 4,623 players who won $50 on Tuesday, for example,  just for matching the Mega Ball on its own without any of the main numbers. All these players had a 10x multiplier.

Joshua Johnston, the Washington state lottery director who heads the Mega Millions jackpot, said in a press release: "We couldn't be more thrilled for our players and for how the new game is being received. As players are coming into grocery stores, convenience stores, and lottery offices today to collect prizes that are two, three, four, five and ten times what they've seen in the past, it's putting a smile on their faces, because that's real, everyday money to most people. This is why the game change matters; it's providing value to our players at every prize level and at every drawing."

Go to the Mega Millions Numbers page to see a payout chart for the historic drawing. From there, you can go through to see all the prize information for your state.

More $1 Billion Jackpots Expected

The changes have been made to freshen up the game, add more excitement and, ultimately, create more big winners. With a bigger starting jackpot and more money going into the prize fund from every ticket, the average jackpot is expected to rise to $800 million, almost double the current figure of $450 million.

The Mega Millions jackpot has reached $1 billion on multiple occasions over the past few years, including a record-breaking $1.602 billion payout that went to a player from Florida in August 2023. Under the new rules, it could grow even higher. Johnston said: “People really want big jackpots. We expect to see a sales lift on this. When you get to a billion people are like, ‘Whoa, that’s a whole lot of money’.”

It is expected to be just a matter of time before the jackpot tops 10 figures again. It has already jumped up from $54 million to an estimated $72 million for the next draw. Make sure you don’t miss out on the chance to become the next big winner, and keep up to date with the latest numbers every Tuesday and Friday night.