Picking only numbers 1 through 31 doesn't change your odds of winning; every five-number combination on the 70-number wheel is exactly as likely as any other. It does raise the odds you'd split the jackpot with someone else, since birthdays and calendar dates push huge numbers of players toward that same low range.
The game at a glance
5 of 70 + Mega Ball
Tue · Fri
United States
1 in 290,472,336
The same for every possible combination, including this one.
1 of 24
Mega Ball: you pick it yourself, drawn from a separate pool.
18+
Must be 18+ (21+ in some jurisdictions) to play Mega Millions.
Mega Millions, in brief
Mega Millions is a multi-state lottery drawn twice a week, Tuesday and Friday nights, across the District of Columbia and most US states. A ticket asks you to pick five numbers from 1 to 70, then a sixth number, the Mega Ball, from a separate pool running 1 to 24.
The jackpot starts at a fixed floor and climbs draw by draw until somebody matches all six numbers, funded by ticket sales pooled across every participating jurisdiction. That shared pool is what lets the top prize stretch into hundreds of millions when the jackpot rolls over for weeks at a time.
An optional Megaplier, bought for a little more per ticket, multiplies most prizes below the jackpot by a number drawn separately each night. It doesn't touch the jackpot, and no combination of numbers, birthdays, sequences, or anything else, is more likely to come up than any other.
Prize tiers
5 numbers + Mega BallJackpot
The jackpot, split evenly among all winning tickets and paid as an annuity or a reduced lump sum
5 numbers, no Mega Ball
A fixed $1,000,000
4 numbers + Mega Ball
A fixed $10,000
4 numbers, no Mega Ball
A few hundred dollars
3 numbers + Mega Ball
A few hundred dollars
3 numbers, no Mega Ball
A small fixed prize
2 numbers + Mega Ball
A small fixed prize
1 number + Mega Ball
A small fixed prize
Mega Ball only
The minimum fixed prize, roughly the cost of the ticket
Where Mega Millions came from
The Big Game years
Mega Millions began in 1996 as The Big Game, a joint drawing offered by a small handful of state lotteries, including Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Virginia, that wanted jackpots too large for any one of them to fund alone.
Becoming Mega Millions
As more states signed on through the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, the game was rebranded Mega Millions in 2002. Its number matrix has been widened more than once since then, each change stretching the odds a little further so jackpots have more room to grow before somebody wins.
The 2025 overhaul
The most recent overhaul landed in April 2025, when the Mega Ball pool narrowed from 1-25 down to 1-24 alongside a change to ticket pricing and the jackpot's starting point, a package built to make jackpots build faster and roll over more often.
Picking numbers, honestly
There's no such thing as a Mega Ball that's overdue. Each drawing pulls from a fresh, independent set of balls, so a number that hasn't shown up in months carries the same odds as one that hit last week.
Not every US state sells Mega Millions. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah sit it out entirely, the same handful of states that don't sell Powerball either.
Mega Millions — frequently asked
Matching the Mega Ball on its own is enough for the smallest prize. Add main numbers on top of that and the payout climbs, up through all five plus the Mega Ball for the jackpot.
It's an add-on, bought separately per ticket, that multiplies non-jackpot prizes by a number drawn each night. The jackpot always pays out at full value regardless of the Megaplier.
The lotteries running the game narrowed the Mega Ball pool to 1-24 and adjusted ticket pricing and the jackpot's starting point, changes meant to help jackpots build faster and roll over more often before someone wins.
No. The draw has no way of knowing how a number ended up on your ticket. A machine-generated quick pick and a birthday-based set you picked by hand carry identical odds.
Not through official channels. Tickets are sold only at retailers and licensed lottery outlets within participating US jurisdictions.