Changes made to Mega Millions lottery game making prizes larger, easier to win; First prize drawing is tonight

The first drawing for the Mega Millions lottery game under a new prize structure is tonight (April 8, 2025, at 10pm CT).

The South Dakota Lottery says the revised game features bigger prizes at every non-jackpot prize level. The new tickets cost $5 per play.

Other Mega Millions changes benefiting players include:

• Improved overall odds – Overall odds to win any prize will improve to 1:23 from 1:24 due to the removal of one gold Mega Ball from the game.
• Improved odds to win the jackpot – Odds to win the jackpot will improve to 1:290,472,336 from 1:302,575,350 due to the removal of one gold Mega Ball from the game. The new game will feature 24 Mega Balls instead of the 25 in the current game.
• Larger starting jackpots – Following a jackpot win, the starting jackpot will reset to $50 million instead of the current $20 million.
• Faster-growing jackpots and bigger jackpots more frequently – Jackpots are expected to grow faster and get to higher dollar amounts more frequently in the new game. The Mega Millions Consortium estimates that the average jackpot win in the new game will be more than $800 million vs. approximately $450 million in the current game.
• 2X-10X prize increase with built-in random multiplier – Every non-jackpot win will multiply its base prize by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X automatically. Prizes in the new game will range from $10 to $10 million vs. the $2 to $1 million in the current game.
• Win more than the cost to play – With a minimum prize of $10 on a winning ticket in the new game, every winning ticket will pay out at least double the $5 cost for each play. In the current game, the minimum prize on a winning ticket and cost to play are the same: $2.

South Dakota Lottery says this is only the second ticket price increase since the game started 20+ years ago and the first change since the Mega Millions game matrix was adopted in 2017.

The State of South Dakota’s General Fund receives 70% of the net revenue from South Dakota Lottery’s lotto games. The remaining 30% is distributed to the State’s Capital Construction Fund. Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.