How to Play US Mega Millions

 To play Mega Millions and have a chance at winning:

• Choose 5 numbers from a pool of 70
• Pick 1 Mega Ball in the range from 1 to 25

To win the jackpot, you need to match the 5 Mega Millions numbers and the Mega Ball for the particular draw. The minimum guaranteed jackpot is 40 million and it grows by a minimum of 5 million dollars each time the jackpot rolls.

To win any of US Mega Millions secondary prizes, check the prize breakdown below.The winning combinations and the prize amounts for US Mega Millions include the following:

Numbers Matched	Mega Ball Number	Prize
5	YES	Jackpot
5	NO	1,000,000
4	YES	$10,000
4	NO	$500
3	YES	$200
3	NO	$10
2	YES	$10
1	YES	$4
0	YES	$2

 People that earn the jackpot can choose a lump sum payment (minus taxes) or annual payments during 29 years. Each next payment will be 5% bigger than the previous one.

The 2nd prize is one million dollars paid in cash only.

You win by matching at least 3 numbers. Any time you match the Mega Ball number, you win a prize.

All prizes must be claimed within 180 days of the draw date.

If there is no jackpot winner, the jackpot rolls over to the next Mega Ball draw.1. Originally, Mega Millions carried another name – the Big Game. It was launched back in 1996 and the name change occurred in 2002.

2. Mega Millions is the world’s lottery that has handed out the largest jackpot ever of 656 million dollars. There were three lucky winners that split the humongous amounts. The winning tickets were bought in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland.

3. The biggest Mega Millions jackpot that has been won by only one individual is 265 million dollars. It was handed out on February 24, 2015, and the winning numbers included 26, 32, 44, 45 and 58 + Mega Ball 11.

4. As surprising as it may seem, approximately one billion dollars in Mega Million earnings have never been claimed. Even an individual ticket that won 99 million dollars has remained unclaimed.

5. On Tuesday 31 October 2017 the Mega Millions game changed its rules. The ticket cost doubled, jackpots became bigger and the odds of winning the 2nd tier prize of $1 million became better.