KDSN RADIO News
Iowa part of switch to a revamped Mega Millions game
This is the final week you can play the Mega Millions lotto game before it undergoes a remake. Iowa Lottery spokesperson Mary Neubauer says the final drawing in the old system is Friday night, and then the game moves to a new format.
“We expect that changeover to happen here in Iowa in the overnight-slash nighttime hours once the Lottery statewide gaming system has completed the software update to activate the changes in the game,” she says. The price of one play goes from two to five dollars. “The jackpot in the revamped Mega Millions game will start at 50 million dollars, so there will be bigger prizes that follow nine of the game’s prize levels, and the multiplier will be built into all plays,” Neubauer says. The multiplier is a number you now have to pay another dollar for under the current game.
Each ticket in the new game will automatically have a multiplier number of 2,3,4, 5, or 10 added to the ticket. “That represents the amount any non-jackpot prize the player wins on the play will be multiplied. The multiplier will be randomly assigned and automatically included in each play,” she says. Neubauer says another feature of the new game ensures that anyone winning a prize will win more than the amount they paid for the ticket. “There will be no break even prizes in the game,” Neubauer says. “The smallest amount a player can win in the redesigned game is ten dollars, that’s twice the purchase price.”
Neubauer says the new game costs more to play, but the reward is increased for all prizes. “With the built in multiplier, the amount that a player can win at the initial eight prize levels in the game will have a big range, and that’s from ten dollars all the way up to ten million dollars and that’s an intrigue that we think players will like about the new game,” she says.
Operators and participants in the nationwide games are hoping the changes will spur more interest. The Iowa Lottery reported last week that sales of Mega Million are down more than 21% and Powerball sales are down nearly 54% so far this fiscal year compared to last year.
