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The Massachusetts State Lottery did a redesign of the Megabucks game in November 2023. It has now resulted in the second jackpot winner being crowned!
The winning ticket
The winning Megabucks ticket was purchased in Northborough for the Saturday, May 4 drawing. The lucky winner matched all six numbers to win the jackpot for the night, which was $5.37 million.
Massachusetts State Lottery officials said the lucky ticket was a Quick Pick selection and purchased at Lowe's Variety and Meat Shop, located at 255 W. Main St. in Northborough.
The winning numbers for the May 4 drawing were 4, 11, 15, 26, 30, and 40. The winning ticket matched all six numbers to win the jackpot.
Megabucks - how does it work?
Megabucks is a draw game from the Massachusetts State Lottery. The drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday night at 9:00 p.m. ET.
To play, you need to select six numbers between 1 and 44, or you can choose the Quick Pick option and let the computer generate the numbers for you. You can play your numbers up to seven consecutive draws, and each play costs $2.
The Megabucks jackpot starts out at $500,000 and increases every draw until someone wins it. About 55 % of the total Megabucks ticket sales is allocated to the prize pool.
There are four prize categories for Megabucks, which starts out at winning $4 for matching three numbers up to the jackpot for matching all six numbers.
If you do win the jackpot, winners have the option of picking between annuity and cash options. For the annuity option, the prize is split into equal payments paid out over 20 years. If you opt for the cash option, you'll receive a one-time payment.
Megabucks prize winners have one year from the date of the drawing to claim prizes.
The revamp of Megabucks
As stated above, the Massachusetts State Lottery redesigned the Megabucks game on November 12, 2023. Why did they do this? They said they wanted to bring more value to players, giving players better odds of winning, a higher average jackpot, and double the winnings for all non-jackpot prize tiers. They also added in a third drawing on Monday nights, in addition to the Wednesday and Saturday drawings in the traditional lineup.
How did the odds get better? Well, the Lottery reduced the numbers players had to choose from in the game from 49 to 44. Because of this reduction, the odds of winning the jackpot and all other prize tiers improved significantly. The odds of winning the jackpot used to be 1 in 13.98 million. With these changes, the odds of winning the jackpot are now 1 in 7.06 million.
It must be working, as this is the second jackpot win for Megabucks since the revamp took place in 2023.
Enjoy playing the Massachusetts Lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.
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