![]() ![]() Mega Millions followed Powerball's path in 2017, both increasing ticket prices and adding more number combinations to grow jackpot sizes. Much of that expansion stems from MUSL's 2009 agreement with the consortium of states that operate the Mega Millions lottery. Previously, the two lotteries operated exclusively in separate states, and their agreement paved the way for bigger jackpots for both Powerball and Mega Millions. states, including 14 states added since 2009. MUSL has also steadily expanded Powerball's footprint. The nonprofit Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL), which runs a group of lotteries including Powerball, has started directing more of its revenue from ticket sales toward the jackpot, rather than smaller prizes, Matheson says - even as those smaller amounts have become easier to win. ![]() Making the game harder isn't the only strategy that organizers use to juice the jackpots. How lottery organizers grow billion-dollar jackpots "They've been running Powerball or its predecessor for, and they've gradually been making it harder and harder to win," Matheson tells CNBC Make It. Today, those odds are 1 in 292.2 million for Powerball, Mega Millions odds have also gotten longer in recent years. Before then, your odds of winning a Powerball lottery were around 1 in 175 million, Matheson says. The biggest change came in 2015, when the lottery added more number combinations to nearly halve the odds of hitting the jackpot. Mega Millions and Powerball organizers have gradually made their lottery harder to win for decades, says Victor Matheson, an economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross who studies lotteries. Make that lottery harder to win and you can almost guarantee higher jackpots on a regular basis, incentivizing even more people to buy lottery tickets. The increasing prevalence is actually by design, experts say - and the odds of you actually winning a big jackpot are longer than ever.Ĭonsider this: If nobody wins a given lottery draw, the jackpot money rolls over into the next draw, increasing the size of the pot. ![]()
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