What Are Your Odds of Winning Mega Millions?

Playing lottery games like Mega Millions is supposed to be fun, and a lot of complicated numbers and math can be the absolute opposite of fun. Still, you're probably very interested to know what your odds of winning a lottery prize or jackpot are. Knowing the odds for a lottery is important if you want to play smart, and you might even be pleasantly surprised by how high the odds are for winning some prizes.

But if you're playing Mega Millions you probably already know the odds are pretty steep. After all, you don't get a jackpot as big as Mega Millions's without really small odds. So what exactly are those odds, and can you still expect good chances of becoming one of Minnesota's biggest lottery winners?

What are Mega Millions odds and prizes?

Mega Millions has nine tiers of prizes so there's a lot to aim for besides the ultimate jackpot.

The odds of winning a prize at all are 1:24. That means when you buy a ticket you have about a 4% shot at a prize; pretty good for one of the world's toughest lotteries, and also slightly better odds than Powerball's 1:24.9.

The 9th prize also has decent odds at 1:37, but the big money really starts up at the 5th prize, which also comes with the significantly lower odds of 1:14,547.

What are the odds of winning Mega Millions jackpot?

Mega Millions is one of the biggest lotteries in the world. With a record jackpot of $1.537 billion you can expect that such serious money comes with daunting odds. Coming in at 1:302,575,350, the odds of winning Mega Millions jackpot are slightly tougher than winning the Powerball's.

Mega Millions vs other Minnesota lotteries

If you want to play for the biggest jackpots you'll have to put up with those challenging odds, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't check out some of the other Minnesota lotteries you can play online.

Though not nearly as big as Mega Millions or Powerball, you can play Lotto America, another great multi-state lottery. The odds of winning a Lotto America prize are around 1 in 9 and you'll be pretty pleased to hear that its record jackpot of $22.8 million was actually won right here in the state of Minnesota in 2018.

If you're looking for completely homegrown lotteries, we've still got you covered. You can try have a go at playing Minnesota's own Gopher 5. It may not have the biggest jackpots, but the current record of just over $2 million is still enough cash to make you consider winning the lottery anonymously. For similar winnings, its 1 in 1.5 million odds are quite a bit friendlier than the Mega Million second prize.

Another great option is playing Minnesota's Northstar Cash lottery. This local lottery boasts some incredibly favorable odds, with 1:6 chances of winning a prize and 1:169,911 chances of taking the jackpot. The highest Northstar Cash jackpot until now was $236,073, but with no jackpot cap only time will tell how high the next record will be.

No matter what odds you're looking to play against, TheLotter Minnesota has you covered and you'll also be happy to know that every dollar you spend on the Minnesota Lottery helps fund great causes.

Improve your chances of winning Mega Millions

We won't blame you if your heart is still set on the coveted Mega Millions jackpot, so what you'll need is a solid strategy to boost your odds.

Playing Mega Millions online with TheLotter Minnesota gives you many options for getting the most out of your tickets. One great tool is our systematic form, which lets you easily create countless combinations of numbers to greatly increase your chances of winning a prize.

But having the right numbers can only do so much if you only enter the occasional draw. TheLotter Minnesota gives you the option to plan ahead with a Multi-Draw ticket and receive as much as a 10% discount, or you can even subscribe to Mega Millions and get every 10th ticket free!

Also, since your best odds are with the lower prizes, it's a great idea to spring for the optional Mega Millions Megaplier and potentially increase your non-jackpot winnings by up to five times. The lower prizes may not look like much on their own, but a lucky Megaplier can instantly turn a $500 prize into a $2500 one.

Every ticket counts!

Now that you know the odds and how to beat them, you're ready to purchase your lottery tickets and start playing!