Mass. Lottery offering better odds, bigger payouts, 3rd weekly drawing in popular game

BOSTON — The Massachusetts State Lottery on Monday announced that it’s redesigning one of its most popular games to bring more value to players, with better odds of winning, bigger payouts, and additional weekly drawing.

The amount of numbers to choose from in the Lottery’s Megabucks game is being reduced from 49 to 44, a move that will significantly increase the odds of winning the jackpot and other prizes from 1 in 54 to 1 in 39.3. Players will still select six numbers and will win a prize by matching three, four, five, or all six winning numbers.

Megabucks will no longer include a “doubler” component and the ticket price will change from $1 to $2. All non-jackpot prizes will double and the starting jackpot will remain at $500,000.

Additionally, the Lottery said that drawings will take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday starting November 13.

“The Megabucks game has been making millionaires in Massachusetts for over 40 years and we are excited about these enhancements that will result in more winners at all prize levels, including the jackpot,” Mark William Bracken, Executive Director of the Mass Lottery, said in a statement.

The original Megabucks game launched in November 1982 and it ultimately evolved into the Megabucks Doubler format in 2009. The largest jackpot in Megabucks or Megabucks Doubler history is $21.7 million, split among eight winning tickets in 1985.

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