New Mega Millions era begins with a big payout mic drop to the haters

When Mega Millions announced a ticket price hike and game overhaul, plenty of players cried foul. But one month in, the game is firing back — with cold, hard cash.

Now, lottery officials are dropping some eye-popping numbers to show just how much green has landed in players' pockets. So, were the critics too quick to judge?

Mega Millions delivers on its expectations

While lottery officials have taken some flak from players regarding the recent changes to the Mega Millions game, particularly the price jump from $2 per ticket to $5 per ticket, they are clapping back at those naysayers. After one month of drawings for the new version of Mega Millions — the first drawing of the new game took place on April 8 — there has been a huge jump in payouts for the players sticking out those changes.

Mega Millions officials shared some of those mic-dropping stats, which include:

• There have been 1.89 million players who have won non-jackpot prizes totaling $51.3 million. Those same prizes would have netted $12.5 million in the old game, so this is a 308% increase.
• Players who only matched the Mega Ball on their winning ticket have won $18.8 million in prizes. To put that in perspective, that is more money won on the ninth prize tier for the new games than the $12.5 million that would have been awarded across all non-jackpot prize tiers in the old game matrix.
• The new minimum prize amount for a winning ticket is $10. The new game has seen over 587,000 players win just that minimum amount.
• With the built-in multiplier, we have seen almost 60,000 winners have their non-jackpot prize multiplied by 10X. Those players have won over $3.8 million in various prize tiers.
• There have been five Match 5 winners — matching all of the winning white ball numbers drawn but not matching the Mega Ball. Three of them won $2 million, one won $3 million, and another won $4 million. Those winning tickets were purchased in Michigan, New York (2), Virginia, and Washington.
• After just four drawings with the new matrix, the first jackpot was won by a ticket purchased in Ohio. That lucky player won $112 million, resetting the jackpot to the new starting minimum of $50 million.

Higher-value prize tiers

These higher payouts can be tied to the new Mega Millions offering bigger prizes at every non-jackpot prize tier. Also, keep in mind that the new changes offer improved odds of winning the jackpot and better odds overall.

Non-jackpot winning prizes in the new game matrix range from $10 to $10 million versus the $2 to $1 million prize range in the old game. Because of these higher value prizes being available, Mega Millions officials raised the price of the ticket to $5 per play, which was only the game's second price adjustment since the first ticket was sold more than 20 years ago.

Haters gonna hate

While there has been backlash among some players regarding the increase in ticket prices, these payouts show that maybe the ticket increase is worth it. Joshua Johnston, Lead Director of the Mega Millions Consortium, stated:

It's exciting to see how players are reacting to the new game, especially when they win. The more they see their winnings multiply, the more they're understanding the value of the new game and why we made the changes we did.

Enjoy playing the lottery, and please remember to play responsibly.