Lottery jackpots are getting larger and more durable to win. See the info on Powerball and Mega Tens of millions’ prime prizes.

Lottery jackpots have exploded in dimension over the past decade.

When Powerball launched in 1992, the primary jackpot was $5.9 million, based on the Multi-State Lottery Affiliation. Now, the most important Powerball jackpot on report is the $2.04 billion prize gained on Nov. 7, 2022.

Mega Tens of millions adopted the same path. Its first jackpot winner in 2002 took dwelling $28 million. Its report prize — a $1.602 billion jackpot gained on Aug. 8, 2023 — ranks because the six-largest jackpot gained in U.S. lottery historical past.

13 of the 20 largest jackpots have occurred since 2023.

The second largest U.S. jackpot ever gained was on Christmas Eve in 2025: $1.817 billion, in Arkansas.

Listed below are the most important U.S. jackpot wins earlier than that:

Solely 5 states do not promote lottery tickets: Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

Whereas the prizes are large, the percentages of successful nonetheless stay extraordinarily low. Over the past three a long time, each video games have been redesigned a number of instances. Adjustments have pushed jackpots increased whereas additionally including extra methods for gamers to win smaller prizes.

Powerball gamers select 5 numbers from 1 to 69 and one Powerball quantity from 1 to 26. In 2015, Powerball elevated its variety of white balls from 59 to 69 and its variety of purple balls decreased from 35 to 26. 

Earlier than the change, the percentages of successful the jackpot had been 1 in 175.2 million and the general odds of successful any prize had been 1 in 31.85. After the redesign, the jackpot odds grew to become steeper, 1 in 292.2 million, whereas the general odds of successful a prize improved to 1 in 24.9, based on the Multi-State Lottery Affiliation.

Mega Tens of millions requires gamers to choose 5 totally different numbers from one to 70 and one Mega Ball quantity from one to 24. A ticket wins the jackpot by matching all six numbers in a drawing. 

In 2025, Mega Tens of millions modified its video games to a bigger beginning jackpot ($50 million vs. $20 million), which “improved odds to win the jackpot and improved total odds,” based on Dan Miller, a spokesperson for Mega Tens of millions.

“Everybody who wins is successful extra due to the embedded multiplier within the new sport that takes all non-jackpot prizes and multiplies them by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X,” Miller mentioned in an e-mail. By means of Friday, Dec. 5, he mentioned, “there have been 70 drawings within the new sport. In that point, gamers have gained $531 million in non-jackpot prizes. Within the outdated sport, those self same prizes would have been valued at $119.8 million. That is a 343% enhance in participant winnings.”

For instance, below the outdated guidelines, matching simply the Mega Ball was a break-even consequence: a $2 ticket earned a $2 prize. Below the brand new sport, that very same match now comes with a built-in multiplier. The minimal prize is $5, which is then multiplied — which means a participant can now win $10, $15, $20, $25 and even $50 as a substitute of simply $2.

The percentages to win the jackpot improved from 1 in 302.6 million to 1 in 290.5 million. That is due to Mega Tens of millions eradicating the one gold Mega Ball from the sport, Miller mentioned.

The brand new sport has 24 Mega Balls as a substitute of 25, which improves the percentages of selecting the correct mixtures of numbers to win the jackpot. The general odds to win any prize went from 1 in 24 to 1 in 23.

There’s more cash in play as properly: Powerball elevated the value of a ticket from $1 to $2 in 2012. Mega Tens of millions elevated its ticket costs from $1 to $2 in 2017 and from $2 to $5 in April of this 12 months.