Mega Millions Lottery is a multi state lottery game played twice a week in participating States in the United States of America.
Mega Millions has an initial jackpot set at $15 Million which rolls over until a lottery player wins it.
How to Win Mega Millions
Mega Millions players have to choose 5 numbers from 1 to 75 in one set, and 1 number from 1 to 15 in a second set. All numbers must match draw results to win a Mega Millions jackpot.
Mega Millions players can opt for an Easy Pick option which allows for lottery numbers to be chosen for a lottery player automatically by a computer generated program.
Matching all 6 numbers in pays out the top jackpot in the Mega Millions Lottery game.
There are 8 other prize tiers ranging from $2 to a whopping $1,000,000 for matching numbers in different combinations.
In California prize amounts are based on ticket sales and number of winners and no Mega Plier feature is allowed as it is a parimutuel state. That essentially means, players can only win amounts from a shared pool.
Mega Plier Feature
The Mega Plier feature allows players to win 2x, 3x or even 4x their prize value. This feature is a paid for one which players can opt for by paying an extra $1.
It means that if a player wins $1,000,000 on a draw by matching 5 numbers, they could double the win with the Mega Plier feature if taken.
The Mega Plier feature is not available on the main jackpot though, for obvious reasons.
Mega Millions History
Mega Millions Lottery was originally called the Big Game when it launched in August 31st 1996.
The first draw took place on Friday September 6th 1996 with just 6 states participating, these were Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Virginia.
In February 1998, a Tuesday draw got added to the lottery game based on phenomenal response it received the previous year.
The first format of the Big Game paid out winners of the top jackpot only in annual installments. A cash value option for lottery winners was first introduced in January 1999.
In May 2002, the name of this already popular lottery game changed to Mega Millions Lottery.
There was a jackpot winner in the very first Mega Millions draw on May 17 2002. One lucky lottery player from Chicago claimed a $28 Million from a single winning ticket.
The jackpot restarted at $12 Million and was won again the following week.
More American states joined Mega Millions Lottery over the years until there were 12 by June 2005, making this lottery game the most widely played multi state lottery jackpot game in the United States.
Mega Millions Lottery teamed up with Powerball Lottery in a mammoth cross-selling contract on January 31st 2010,adding 23 more state lotteries into the game.
Mega Millions Lottery is now played in 44 jurisdictions within the USA.
To date Mega Millions has awarded seven big jackpot wins of over $300 Million each.
On March 30th 2012, the Mega Millions Lottery jackpot reached a record-breaking $656 Million. This lottery jackpot is the record amount for a lottery payout and was shared by 3 winning tickets, one each from Kansas (unclaimed), Illinois and Maryland.
Lottery players enjoy Mega Millions Lottery as there are so many prizes up for grabs.
Following recent changes ( Oct 2013 ) made,there are more prize levels and the smallest jackpot as well as increases in rollover amounts have increased.