TRENTON (April 9, 2025) – Seven New Jersey Lottery players Tuesday won secondary prizes that ranged from two to five times as large under the new Mega Millions rules than they would’ve been under the game’s previous rules.

One of the new features of the game that took effect in the Tuesday, April 8 drawing is that players will automatically receive a randomly generated multiplier on their tickets. Under the game’s previous rules, players would’ve had to pay extra to receive a chance to match a universal multiplier. Under the old rules and assuming these players didn’t pay for a multiplier chance, they would’ve settled for $500 each. Under the new rules on Tuesday, the seven players who all matched four of the white balls capitalized on the individual multipliers:

• One player had a 2X multiplier and will receive $1,000;
• One player had a 3X multiplier and will receive $1,500;
• Two players had 4X multipliers and will each receive $2,000;
• Three players had 5X multipliers and will each receive $2,500.

Nobody matched all five white balls of 10, 16, 50, 60, 61 or the gold Mega of 17 ball to win Tuesday’s jackpot, which is now an estimated $72 million with a cash value of $34.3 million heading into the next drawing Friday.

With higher value prizes embedded throughout every tier of the game, tickets for the new Mega Millions game are $5 per play. This is only the game’s second price adjustment since the first ticket was sold more than 20 years ago and the first change since the current game matrix was adopted in 2017. Players will now be given a multiplier as part of the cost of playing. Previously, players would have to pay to get a chance at a multiplier.

The full prize matrix is available here. Among the new features:

• Improved overall odds: Overall odds to win any prize will improve to 1:23 from 1:24 due to the removal of one gold Mega Ball from the game.
• Improved odds to win the jackpot: Odds to win the jackpot will improve to 1:290,472,336 from 1:302,575,350 due to the removal of one gold Mega Ball from the game. The new game will feature 24 Mega Balls instead of the 25 in the current game.
• Larger starting jackpots: Following a jackpot win, the starting jackpot will reset to $50 million instead of the current $20 million.
• Faster-growing jackpots and bigger jackpots more frequently: Jackpots are expected to grow faster and get to higher dollar amounts more frequently in the new game. The average jackpot win in the new game is estimated to be more than $800 million vs. approximately $450 million in the current game.
• 2X-10X prize increase with built-in random multiplier: Every non-jackpot win will multiply its base prize by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X automatically. Prizes in the new game will range from $10 to $10 million vs. the $2 to $1 million in the current game.
• Win more than the cost to play: With a minimum prize of $10 on a winning ticket in the new game, every winning ticket will pay out at least double the $5 cost for each play. In the current game, the minimum prize on a winning ticket and cost to play are the same: $2.

About Mega Millions

Mega Millions is a national game with tickets sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are conducted at 11 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesdays and Fridays in Atlanta, Georgia.

About New Jersey Lottery

Since its inception in 1970, the Lottery has contributed nearly $33.7 billion to the State, helping support many worthwhile programs and services. Lottery profits currently help bolster the public employee pension system under a 30-year agreement signed into law in 2017.