A 150% increase in prices could be coming for Mega Millions tickets in Georgia, according to reporting by Lottery Geeks.
The current price for a Mega Millions ticket is $2. Lottery Geeks says officials of the multi-state lottery are considering a boost to $5 per ticket. That would impact players in more than 40 states, including in Georgia.
Communications Director for the Georgia Lottery Tandi Reddick told Lottery Geeks that the Lottery could not confirm nor deny the story.
“We’re always looking for fun and exciting opportunities for our players. We don’t have anything to report today.”
Mega Millions trying to differentiate itself with risky price hike
Georgia was one of six states to first participate in Mega Millions in 1996. Voters had approved the Georgia Lottery system four years earlier.
Mega Millions is one of the oldest multi-state pooled lottery games. It is available in 45 states plus the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands. Originally, a ticket cost $1, but in 2017, the price was boosted to $2. Mega Millions jackpots have reached as high as $1.6 billion, which occurred last year.
Lottery Geeks said Mega Millions may be considering a price hike to differentiate itself from its primary competitor, Powerball. That multi-state lottery proceeded Mega Millions by four years. Consumers sometimes confuse the two when buying tickets, Lottery Geeks said.
The $1-$2 price point for multi-state draw games has done well with customers, and some financial analysts think Mega Millions risks alienating its customer base.
What may also be implied by this price hike is the fact that of the two major multi-state draw games, Mega Millions is the one that commonly gets confused due to weaker branding. While this move may compensate for some of that confusion at the ticket sales counter, it could create the wrong kind of brand awareness.
Alabama residents come to Georgia to buy Mega Millions tickets
To win the Mega Millions jackpot, a player must match all five white balls numbered 1 through 70 and the Mega Ball. Cash prizes are paid out for matching fewer balls, all the way down to three white balls, or just the gold Mega Ball. The starting Mega Millions jackpot is $20 million. Like Powerball, it grows each drawing that fails to have a winner. Overall odds to win a payout are 1 in 24.
One of the five states that does not offer Mega Millions is Georgia’s neighbor, Alabama. Some Georgia communities along the western border of the state attract customers from Alabama.
According to the official Mega Millions website, there have been “215 jackpots won by 242 individual tickets (22 jackpots have been shared by two or more winning tickets).” Six times, the jackpot has exceeded $1 billion. A $1.1 billion jackpot was awarded earlier this year.
