How much does 3 numbers pay on mega millions

MEGA MILLIONS® WITH MEGAPLIER®

Play MEGA MILLIONS® and you could win an estimated annuity jackpot starting at $20 million or a set cash prize. Add MEGAPLIER, for an additional $1, and if you win a set cash prize you could multiply that amount.

Here's what you can win when you play:

Prize chart effective as of October 28, 2017.

The Delaware Lottery, the Multiple-State Lottery Association, and the Mega Millions Group may limit the amount of a top prize for certain games when specific conditions are met. In such an event, all money available for that prize level may be divided equally by the number of winning tickets for that prize level (pari-mutuel prize payment). See game pari-mutuel prize descriptions or contact the Lottery Office for details.

The odds of hitting Friday’s $1 billion-plus Mega Millions jackpot are astronomical and the chances of winning a far smaller lottery prize are fairly low too, but that’s part of the fun of dreaming big.

The overall odds of winning something after buying a $2 Mega Millions lottery ticket are 24 to 1.

To begin with, there are two sets of Mega Millions balls. Five white balls are drawn out of a drum containing 70 balls. Then single gold Mega ball is drawn out of a second drum with 25 balls.

Players can increase their prize amounts by spending an extra $1 for the Megaplier option to win two, three, four or on rare occasions five times as much. The Megaplier only applies to non-jackpot prizes.

Friday’s $1.025 billion jackpot has a cash option of $602.5 million and is for the moment the fourth biggest in U.S. lottery history. The prize figured to climb before the drawing.

Here are the Mega Millions odds and prizes explained:

Let’s start with the small prizes.

The odds of your ticket matching only the gold Mega Ball is 37 to 1. On a single $2 ticket purchase, that’s a break even.

There’s a 1 in 89 chance your $2 gamble will net you $4 — a $2 profit.

It’s a 1 in 693 shot to buy a ticket containing two numbers and the Mega Ball but the payout is a scant $10.

These are the biggest lottery jackpots on record in the United States as of July 2022. The estimated jackpot for the upcoming Mega Millions drawing on July 29 could go even higher, depending on the volume of ticket sales.Len Melisurgo | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

If your ticket matched three of the five white balls, you still win just $10. The odds of hitting three numbers, but not the Powerball are a tad better than matching two numbers plus the Mega Ball — 606 to 1.

The good news is that the prize amount has finally reached triple digits - $200. Far less encouraging are that the odds of buying a ticket matching three numbers plus the Mega Ball are 14,547 to 1.

A ticket that matches four numbers, but not Mega Ball, is one numbers away from winning serious money, but only gets you $500. It’s a 1 in 38,792 shot to be that fortunate, though. New Jersey Lottery officials said 199tickets for Tuesday’s drawing matched four numbers. Seven were purchased with the Megaplier option, multiplying the prizes to $1,500.

The prize climbs all the way to winning $10,000 if you manage to beat the roughly 931,001 to 1 odds and match four numbers plus the Mega Ball.

Seven third-prize tickets were sold in New Jersey for Tuesday’s drawing — six are valued at $10,000 and one is worth $30,000.

The life-changing money begins at this prize level. All you have to do to win at least $1 million is match the numbers on the five white balls drawn, but not the Mega Ball. Good luck overcoming the 12,607,306 to 1 odds, though.

Two lottery players in New Jersey beat those odds for Tuesday’s drawing — one Tenafly and one on in Point Pleasant and won $1 million apiece.

The dream for any lottery player is hitting the jackpot. The odds of buying a ticket that matches all five numbers and the Mega Millions are a ridiculous 302,575,350 to 1.

A New Jersey player last hit the Mega Millions jackpot on July 24, 2020 when someone who bought a ticket in Bayonne won $123 million. The cash option was $100.1 million. Winners in New Jersey have had the option to remain anonymous since January 2020 so the lucky ticket-holder’s identity has never been publicly revealed.

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