Mega Millions officials said players’ odds would be increased and jackpot sizes would be bigger after the price increase next April.
Mega Millions players will have to pay $5 for a ticket — more than twice the current cost — beginning next April as part of an overhaul of the 22-year-old lottery game, Mega Millions announced on Monday.
The planned increase in the price of a ticket, which currently costs $2, is part of a larger effort to have larger jackpots and improve ticket buyers’ odds, the lottery said in a news release.
It will be the second time since the lottery game began in 2002 that the cost has gone up. The odds will be increased because of a change in the number of balls available for drawing, a Mega Millions official said, adding that more details would be released closer to April.
Joshua Johnston, the lead director at Mega Millions, said that researchers had found that lottery ticket buyers on average were spending more than $5 for a variety of different games.
“We saw that the $5 wasn’t a big thing for them,” Mr. Johnston said, adding that big jackpots for Mega Millions were a “huge driver” for people to buy tickets. “We wanted to do what we can to satisfy those players and new players.”
Mega Millions tickets increased to $2 from $1 in 2017, Mr. Johnston said, noting that customers complained at the time but continued to play.
