Tickets for one of the nation’s biggest lottery games are about to get more expensive.
California Lottery officials announced on Thursday that Mega Millions tickets will increase from $2 to $5 starting in April, along with other changes aimed at making the jackpots soar more often and improve the odds of winning.
With the higher ticket price, lottery officials expect the starting jackpots to be larger and grow faster. There will be a built-in multiplier on every play, which automatically increases every non-jackpot win by double, triple, four times, five times or 10 times, according to the California Lottery.
Also, breakeven prices will be gone, so if you win, it will always be more than the cost of the ticket.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states and the District of Columbia. In California, proceeds from all lottery sales benefit public education, which totaled more than $2 billion in 2024.
Lottery officials said approximately $2 from the new $5 Mega Millions tickets will be directed to public schools.
“With more attractive features for players, the changes are designed to yield higher sales, which – in turn – allows the California Lottery to raise even more supplemental funding for public education in line with its mission,” the California Lottery said in a news release.
In December, a $1.2 billion Mega Millions ticket sold in the small town of Cottonwood, California, became the Golden State’s first jackpot winner.
