Updated October 26, 2026.
Powerball and Mega Millions are separate drawings, with different prices, number fields, and nights. This page sets the published rules next to each other. It is not a suggestion to buy either ticket, and it is not a forecast. A comparison does not make a line more likely to match. LotteryMigo does not sell tickets, does not guarantee any win, and is not responsible for any win or loss. Claim a prize, if there is one, from the lottery that sold the ticket.
The full prize charts are on the Powerball rules page and the Mega Millions rules page. What follows is how the two games differ on the pages those lotteries publish.
The two games, side by side
The figures below are from powerball.com and megamillions.com, including the March 25, 2025 Mega Millions release that set the rules for the April 8, 2025 drawing. The selling lottery's site is the record for a ticket in your hand.
| Rule | Powerball | Mega Millions |
|---|---|---|
| Base price | $2 per play. Idaho and Montana include Power Play, so the minimum there is $3. | $5 per play, multiplier included, from the April 8, 2025 drawing. |
| Numbers | 5 white balls from 1–69, plus 1 red Powerball from 1–26. | 5 white balls from 1–70, plus 1 gold Mega Ball from 1–24. |
| Jackpot odds | 1 in 292,201,338 | 1 in 290,472,336 |
| Odds of any prize | 1 in 24.87 | 1 in 23 |
| Drawings | Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, 10:59 p.m. Eastern, in Tallahassee. | Tuesday and Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern, in Atlanta. |
| Starting jackpot | Starts at $20 million and grows until it is won. | Resets to $50 million after a win, under the April 2025 rules. |
| Jackpot choices | 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or a lump sum. Both before taxes. | One payment now, then 29 annual payments each 5 percent larger, or the cash in the prize pool. Both before taxes. |
| Add-on | Power Play is $1 and multiplies non-jackpot prizes. Double Play is another $1, where it is sold. | The multiplier is in the $5 price. The old $1 Megaplier was retired with the 2025 game. |
| Where sold | 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. | 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Not sold outside the United States. |
What the ticket price buys
On powerball.com, Power Play is an extra dollar except in Idaho and Montana, where it is already in the $3 minimum. It multiplies non-jackpot prizes by 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10. Five white balls without the red ball pay $2 million with Power Play, whatever multiplier is drawn. The 10× multiplier is used only when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or less. Double Play, another dollar where it is sold, enters the same numbers in a later drawing with a $10 million top prize and eight other cash prizes. It is not the Powerball jackpot.
Mega Millions' how-to-play page assigns 2×, 3×, 4×, 5×, or 10× at purchase, for non-jackpot prizes only. The most common is 2×, at 1 in 2.13. The March 25, 2025 release said the lowest new prize is $10, against $2 before, and that the $1 Megaplier was retired. The FAQ says Just the Jackpot, two jackpot-only chances for $3 in some states, ended with the same change. A Powerball line with both add-ons can cost $4. That is still a different bet from the $5 Mega Millions ticket.
Powerball's national chart, before Power Play, runs from $4 to $1 million plus the jackpot. Mega Millions prints multiplied prizes from $10 to $10 million for five white balls at 10×, plus the jackpot. In California, both games say those fixed amounts can differ because prizes are pari-mutuel. Use the California Lottery's page for a California ticket.
Matrices, odds, and draw nights
The March 25, 2025 release is why Mega Millions' odds in the table are not the odds from earlier years. Any-prize odds moved to 1 in 23, from 1 in 24, and jackpot odds moved from 1 in 302,575,350 to 1 in 290,472,336, because the Mega Ball field went from 25 numbers to 24. Those figures start with the April 8, 2025 drawing. A ticket for April 4, 2025 or earlier is paid on the older chart if it is claimed by the selling lottery's deadline. Powerball's 1 in 292,201,338 and 1 in 24.87 are the current chart for a $2 play.
Mega Millions has the shorter published jackpot odds. The gap is small beside either number. A second ticket scales a very small chance and leaves it very small. The odds guide shows that arithmetic. White-ball order does not matter. The red Powerball and the gold Mega Ball are separate draws.
The counts on this site are separate too. White ball 12 in Powerball is not 12 in Mega Millions. Powerball's white-ball field stops at 69, so 70 is only a Mega Millions ball. Powerball 10 is not Mega Ball 10. The indexes are the Powerball numbers and Mega Millions numbers pages, and recent lines are on Powerball results and Mega Millions results. A frequency there does not change the next drawing. The hot and overdue guide is the longer version of that limit.
Cutoffs are earlier than the drawing and differ by jurisdiction. A ticket sold after the local cutoff is for a later night. The extra Powerball drawing each week does not change the odds of one play.
Jackpots, cash, and where a ticket is sold
Powerball's media center says the jackpot starts at $20 million and grows until it is won. Releases in 2026, including the one after the August 12 Illinois prize, reset the next drawing to $20 million. The standing pages describe 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or a lump sum, both before taxes. They do not print a percent step between annuity payments. Mega Millions' 5 percent step belongs to Mega Millions.
The Mega Millions FAQ ties the $5 price to a $50 million start. The March 25, 2025 release said a win resets the jackpot to $50 million rather than the previous $20 million. Its annuity is one payment now and 29 annual payments, each 5 percent larger, built from the cash in the pool and the 30-year U.S. Treasury rate. The FAQ says the paid amount can differ from the estimate. The cash option is that pool, paid once, and it is smaller than the advertised annuity. The lump-sum guide covers reporting in general. It is not tax advice. Record annuities are on the jackpot history page.
Matching tickets split the prize. People who share one ticket are dividing a single win. The what-to-do-if-you-win guide covers the claim. Mega Millions' FAQ says the window runs from 90 days to one year, by jurisdiction.
Powerball's site lists 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and says UK sales were scheduled to begin July 21, 2026. Confirm on powerball.com whether a ticket is sold where you are. Mega Millions' where-to-play page lists 47 localities: 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico is on Powerball's list and is not in that Mega Millions count. The FAQ says Mega Millions tickets are not sold outside the United States, and that the game does not endorse sellers who offer it from abroad. The same FAQ names where its own tickets can be bought online, by someone physically in that jurisdiction: Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, plus subscriptions in New York. Powerball's homepage does not publish a matching national online list. A fee demanded before a prize is released is the pattern in the scam guide.
Which published rules match which preference
These are differences in the published rules. They are not a recommendation, and a preference among them is not an edge.
The table is the comparison. A $2 Powerball play and a $5 Mega Millions play are different prices. Mega Millions publishes the shorter jackpot odds and the shorter any-prize odds. Powerball publishes more drawing nights and a $20 million start, against Mega Millions' $50 million reset. Mega Millions includes a multiplier. Power Play is optional outside Idaho and Montana. One play is still one line in a field of hundreds of millions. A past jackpot or a generated line does not change that.
Sources
- Powerball — $2 play, the $3 minimum in Idaho and Montana, matrix, draw nights, Power Play, Double Play, annuity, and where tickets are sold.
- Powerball prize chart — jackpot odds of 1 in 292,201,338 and overall odds of 1 in 24.87.
- Powerball media center — the jackpot starts at $20 million and grows until it is won.
- Mega Millions how to play — $5 price, matrix, jackpot odds, multiplier odds, and the 5 percent annuity.
- Mega Millions FAQ — $50 million start, 47 jurisdictions, no foreign sales, the online-sales list, and claim windows.
- Mega Millions where to play — 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- March 25, 2025 Mega Millions release — the April 8, 2025 drawing, odds of 1 in 23, and the cut from 25 Mega Balls to 24.