Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery game with a tendency to generate some of the largest jackpots ever won in the country. Forty-seven jurisdictions participate in drawings, and customers can buy Mega Millions tickets online in a growing number of states.

Alongside Powerball, Mega Millions operates as one of the country’s two largest draw games in terms of sheer prize potential. The two are highly competitive but also complementary to one another as they operate on similar rulesets but are drawn on different days.

Continue below for BettingUSA’s complete Mega Millions guide. Below, see how to play Mega Millions online legally, where to buy tickets, record jackpots, the odds of winning, and much more.

Mega Millions Lottery Sites

TheLotterTicket DiscountsGet Bonus

Where To Buy Mega Millions Online Legally

Jackpocket$3 Off First TicketsGet Bonus

Some states allow online lottery ticket sales to residents who are located within state lines at the time of purchase. In some cases, the lottery itself is authorized to sell lottery products online through its official website and mobile app.

In some states, third-party lottery courier service Jackpocket (see our Jackpocket review here) has the blessing of local authorities to purchase Mega Millions tickets on behalf of customers.

States Lotteries That Sell Mega Millions Tickets Online:

  • Pay by credit card, debit card, PayPal, Skrill, or ACH
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: DCLottery.com/ilottery
  • Pay by debit card, ACH bank transfer or PayPal
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: GALottery.com

  • Pay by credit card, debit card or gift cards purchased at retail locations
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: KYLottery.com

  • Pay by credit card, debit card, PayPal, ACH bank transfer and vouchers purchased at retail locations
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: MichiganLottery.com
  • Pay by debit card, ACH bank transfer or by redeeming an online play gift
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: NCLottery.com
  • Pay by credit card, debit card or ACH bank transfer
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: Lottery.ND.gov

  • Pay by debit card, PayPal or ACH bank transfer
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: NHLottery.com
  • Pay by credit card, debit card, PayPal, PayNearMe, Play+ prepaid debit card or WebCash vouchers purchased at retail locations
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: PAiLottery.com
  • Pay by debit card, PayPal or bank transfer
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: VALottery.com
  • Pay by check or money order
  • Subscriptions may be created and tracked online, but payment must be mailed to the Treasurer of Maine
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: club.MaineLottery.com
  • Pay by check or money order
  • Subscriptions may be created and tracked online, but payment must be mailed to the Maryland Lottery
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • Play now: rewards.MDLottery.com
  • Pay by credit card, debit card or eCheck
  • Subscription purchases only; subscription lengths from two weeks to one year
  • Minimum age to play: 18
  • MyNYLottery.org

Moving beyond these states, the Jackpocket lottery app is approved to purchase tickets on behalf of customers in additional states. Customers 18 or older in the following states may download the Jackpocket app to buy Mega Millions online:

How Mega Millions Lottery Works

Mega Millions is a draw game with nine different prize levels. Tickets cost $2.00 each with an optional Megaplier feature for an additional $1.00 to increase all non-jackpot prizes by 2-5x.

Drawings are held Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 PM ET.

Playing Mega Millions is easy:

  1. Pick five numbers from a pool of 1-70. These numbers correspond to the white balls that will be drawn in the next drawing.
  2. Pick one additional number from a pool of 1-25. This number corresponds to the gold Mega Ball that will be drawn in the next drawing.
  3. Watch the next drawing live or check the results later at MegaMillions.com.

During each Mega Millions drawing, a Megaplier ball is drawn to increase all non-jackpot prizes by 2x, 3x, 4x or 5x.

The Megaplier is drawn from a pool of 15 balls and contains the following mix of multipliers:

  • Five balls are marked with 2x for a 1 in 3 chance to double all non-jackpot prizes
  • Six balls are marked with 3x for a 1 in 2.5 chance
  • Three balls are marked with 4x for a 1 in 5 chance
  • One ball is marked with 5x for a 1 in 15 chance

Customers in most states can participate in the Megaplier feature for an additional $1.00 per ticket.

Just the Jackpot is an option available in some states that allows players to pay $3 for two tickets that are for the grand prize only. The trade-off is players get to play for the jackpot at a lower cost ($1.50 per ticket) but do not qualify for any secondary prizes.

Just the Jackpot is available in: Washington DC, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Mega Millions Jackpot And Prizes

The Mega Millions jackpot starts at $40 million and grows by at least $5 million between each drawing without a winner.

In addition to the jackpot, there are eight secondary prize levels. The value of each prize level varies based on whether or not the player has purchased the Megaplier option. For ticket purchases with the Megaplier option, Mega Millions draws a random Megaplier ball to increase all secondary prizes by 2x-5x.

# of MatchesPrize2x Megaplier3x Megaplier4x Megaplier5x Megaplier
Megaplier (MP) only$2$4$6$8$10
1 + MP$4$8$12$16$20
2 + MP$10$20$30$40$50
3$10$20$30$40$50
3 + MP$200$400$600$800$1,000
4$500$1,000$1,500$2,000$2,500
4 + MP$10,000$20,000$30,000$40,000$50,000
5$1,000,000$2,000,000$3,000,000$4,000,000$5,000,000
5 + MPJackpotJackpotJackpotJackpotJackpot

Odds Of Winning Mega Millions

The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are about 1 in 300 million, which is obviously quite a long shot. However, the odds of winning anything at all are a much more palatable 1 in 24.

Below are the odds of winning a payout at each prize level.

ResultOdds
Megaplier (MP) Only1 in 37
1 + MP1 in 89
2 + MP1 in 693
31 in 606
3 + MP1 in 14,547
41 in 38,792
4 + MP1 in 931,001
51 in 12,607,306
5 + MP1 in 302,575,350

Winning And Getting Paid

Mega Millions prize payouts are handled at the state level, which means the exact process for getting paid varies from state to state.

Generally, state lotteries offer instant payouts at authorized retailers for prizes of $599 and less. In most states, prizes of $600 require a visit to the nearest claim center. A visit to the local state lottery website will point winners to the nearest claim center.

Winning Mega Millions tickets are valid for anywhere from 60 days to one year depending on the jurisdiction.

How Mega Millions Jackpots Are Paid

Jackpot prizes are given special attention due to the amount of money in play. Anyone lucky enough to win a Mega Millions jackpot will need to contact the lottery directly and most likely schedule a meeting with lottery officials to discuss payment options.

Winners of large jackpots can elect to receive an instant lump-sum payment or an annuity that begins with one annual payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase in size by 5% per year.

The lump sum payment option results in players receiving the current cash value of the prize up front and all at once. This amount is always lower than the advertised jackpot, which is an estimate of the final annuity value based on expected interest rates.

Taking the lump sum payout results in a smaller overall payout, but most players elect to take this option to secure the money and potentially invest it in higher-yield investments.

Winners who take the Mega Millions annuity claim the full advertised value of the jackpot, but over a course of 29 years.

The annuity option provides a larger payout over time because the winner receives an initial annual payment. The remaining prize money is invested in bonds or an annuity that accumulates interest over time.

One of the biggest advantages of the annuity option is that it essentially protects winners from themselves by releasing the money in chunks rather than all at once, thereby providing a guaranteed income stream for the next three decades.

The downsides of the annuity include less flexibility and the risk of government default.

Record Mega Millions Jackpots

Mega Millions is best known for its jackpots, and no other lottery other than Powerball even comes close.

Although Powerball maintains the lead for the biggest jackpot ever paid at more than $2 billion, Mega Millions has awarded more $1B+ jackpots than any other lottery.

To date, Mega Millions has awarded 31 jackpots worth $300 million or more. Below are the ten largest Mega Millions jackpots paid so far.

In August 2023, Mega Millions set a new record when a player hit the jackpot worth $1.602 billion from a ticket purchased in Neptune Beach, Florida.

The second-largest Mega Millions record jackpot stands at $1.537 billion, won by an anonymous player in South Carolina. If that player opted for the lump sum payout, he or she took home about $878 million.

A single winner claimed a $1.348 billion jackpot (which was drawn on Friday the 13th) from a ticket purchased in Maine.

An anonymous Illinois pair of winners split the $1.337 billion Mega Millions jackpot in July 2022 and opted for the $780.5 million lump sum payout.

Four members of a lottery group won the $1.05 billion jackpot in 2021 and received a $557 million after-tax lump sum payout. Each member ended taking home just short of $140 million.

The sixth-largest Mega Millions jackpot occurred in 2012 and was split among three winners from Illinois, Kansas and Maryland. Each ticket was worth $218 million before taxes if taken as an annuity or $105.1 million if taken as a lump sum.

Two Mega Millions winners from California and Georgia split the seventh-largest jackpot of all time in 2013. One of the winners was a 56-year-old woman who opted to take her share as a lump sum payout in the amount of $173.8 million after taxes.

Eleven Wells Fargo office workers from California went in together on a batch of tickets in 2018 and managed to hit the eighth-largest Mega Millions jackpot.

All eleven winners opted to take the lump sum payout of $320.5 million, giving them more than $29 million each before taxes.

An Indiana family claimed the ninth-largest jackpot of all time in 2016 with a winning ticket worth $536 million. The family later told Hoosier Lottery officials they purchased five Mega Millions tickets on a whim one day on their way out of town and realized they had won upon returning. The family opted to take a lump sum payout of $271 million after taxes.

In 2018, Richard Wahl of New Jersey won a record jackpot worth $533 million on his second time ever playing Mega Millions. Mr. Wahl eventually ended up taking the lump sum payout for $324.6 million.

States That Participate In Mega Millions

All states with a lottery participate in Mega Millions, giving it wide reach and the ability to generate large jackpots quickly. In total, 45 states plus the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Island sell Mega Millions tickets.

State lotteries that participate in Mega Millions:

  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Mega Millions FAQ

Most states enforce a minimum age of 18 to buy Mega Millions tickets online or in-person, with the one exception being Mississippi (21+ to participate).

Some states authorize online sales of Mega Millions. A handful of state lotteries sell tickets online directly while additional states have authorized the Jackpocket app to purchase tickets on behalf of customers. Players can see a list of states with legal online lottery sales near the top of this page.

In all other states, it is prohibited to sell lottery tickets online. Additionally, federal law (18 US Code § 1301) prohibits the sale of lottery tickets across state lines.

Maybe. Some states without online lotteries have given their blessing of approval to Jackpocket to purchase tickets from authorized retailers and safe keep those tickets on behalf of customers. Players can see a list of states in which Jackpocket is available near the top of this page.

There are no legal or regulated sales of Mega Millions tickets in the remaining states without lotteries. However, players are welcome to buy Mega Millions tickets when traveling to states that do have lotteries.

No. Visitors to the US may play Mega Millions while visiting. Foreign websites that claim to sell US lottery tickets violate US law and are not regulated. As the Mega Millions website explains, those who choose to do business with such websites do so at their own risk.

Rules regarding the anonymity of jackpot winners are determined at the state level. Some states allow winners to remain anonymous, some allow winners to claim prizes through trusts and the rest require the identification of winners in order to promote transparency and trust.

The deadline to buy Mega Millions tickets on the day of the next drawing varies by state but generally ranges from about an hour before the drawing to 15 minutes before the drawing.

There are several ways players can check their tickets to see if they’re winners. In most cases, players can just bring their tickets to the nearest gas station and have the cashier scan the ticket through a lottery machine that checks for winners.

However, it’s also never a bad idea for players to check their numbers manually at the Mega Millions website or their state lottery website just to be safe. Additionally, players who buy Mega Millions tickets online from the state lottery (in states that have legalized online lottery purchases) should receive e-mail or app notifications of all winning tickets.

Mega Millions posts all drawings on its YouTube channel.