How Powerball, Mega Millions have changed over the years

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – You shouldn’t be surprised to know it’s by design.

It has become the norm now for going weeks before having a winner, pushing the dollar amounts into the stratosphere. But with the bigger jackpots, come a downside...

The lines at lottery counters across the nation have been getting longer and longer these days.

Between the Powerball and Mega Millions across the country, there have been over $5 billion in Jackpots in the past six years.

if you are not a regular player here’s why this is the case:

For the Powerball before 2015, you’d pick five numbers from 1-59 and then one number from 1-35. Then the game was changed to where you can pick five numbers from 1-69 and then 1-26. This applied to the Mega Millions in 2017 as well.

Back in the day with the old game, you’d match five numbers from 1-75 and then a Mega Ball from 1-15.

Now you play to match five numbers 1-70 and then match a Mega Ball from 1-25. The odds of winning that billion dollars go up to over 1 in 300 million.

Maybe people are excited about tonight’s results. Click here to learn how to find winning number results


Learn more on how to play the Mega Millions here.


About the Author

Rod Meloni is an Emmy Award-winning Business Editor on Local 4 News and a Certified Financial Planner™ Professional.

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