Powerball vs Mega Millions: What Is the Difference?

Powerball and Mega Millions are the two lottery games that dominate American jackpot culture. Both are available in most of the same states, both advertise nine-figure jackpots during long roll periods, and both have produced winners who have appeared on the front page of every newspaper in the country. At a glance they look like the same game with different branding.

They are not identical. The differences between them, in odds, structure, payout mechanics, and history, can matter depending on what you are looking for when you buy a ticket.

A Brief History of Each Game

Powerball launched in 1992, making it the older of the two major multi-state games. It started as a rebrand of Lotto America and quickly became the dominant lottery in the country. Over its history, Powerball has changed its number pools several times, adjusting the odds to allow jackpots to grow larger before being won. The most significant change came in October 2015, when Powerball expanded its white ball pool from 59 to 69 numbers, dramatically lengthening the jackpot odds and enabling the record-breaking jackpots that followed.

Mega Millions traces its origins to a game called The Big Game, which launched in 1996. It was rebranded as Mega Millions in 2002. The game underwent a similar structural change in October 2017, expanding its pool sizes to push odds even longer. Both changes reflected a deliberate strategy to let jackpots accumulate into the billions, creating media events that drive ticket sales far beyond what smaller prizes could.

How the Numbers Work

The two games use different number pools, which is the primary driver of differences in jackpot odds.

In Powerball, players select 5 numbers from a white ball pool of 1 through 69, plus one red Powerball number from a separate pool of 1 through 26. To win the jackpot, all 6 numbers must match the drawn combination. The odds of this are approximately 1 in 292.2 million.

In Mega Millions, players select 5 numbers from a white ball pool of 1 through 70, plus one gold Mega Ball number from a pool of 1 through 25. The odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are approximately 1 in 302.6 million.

The practical implication of the longer Mega Millions odds is that jackpots tend to roll over more times before a winner emerges. That means Mega Millions jackpots can grow to larger amounts on average before being claimed, which is part of why the all-time record Mega Millions jackpot exceeds the all-time record Powerball jackpot among non-exceptional jackpots, though individual historical context matters here.

Ticket Price and Add-Ons

This is now one of the clearest differences between the two games. Powerball still costs $2 per standard ticket. Mega Millions raised its base ticket price to $5 in April 2025, making it more than twice the cost of a Powerball ticket.

The Mega Millions price increase came alongside structural changes designed to grow jackpots faster and to larger amounts. The trade-off for players is that each ticket costs more, but the starting jackpot minimum and non-jackpot prize amounts were also increased as part of the change.

Powerball's optional add-on is called Power Play, available for $1 more per ticket. It multiplies non-jackpot prizes by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, or 10x, with the 10x multiplier available only when the jackpot is below $150 million. The $1 million Match 5 prize is always doubled to $2 million when Power Play is active.

Mega Millions' optional add-on is called Megaplier, also available for an extra charge per play. It multiplies non-jackpot prizes by 2x, 3x, 4x, or 5x. Neither multiplier affects the jackpot prize itself.

For budget-conscious players, the price difference matters. At $5 per ticket, buying the same number of Mega Millions tickets as Powerball tickets costs two and a half times as much. Players who previously split spending evenly between both games may want to factor this in.

Drawing Days and Times

The two games draw on different nights, which means there is an opportunity to play both without ever having two drawings on the same evening.

Powerball draws on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday nights at 10:59 PM Eastern Time. Mega Millions draws on Tuesday and Friday nights at 11:00 PM Eastern Time.

Between the two games, there are five drawing nights per week: Monday (Powerball), Tuesday (Mega Millions), Wednesday (Powerball), Friday (Mega Millions), and Saturday (Powerball). Sunday and Thursday are the only nights with no major multi-state drawing.

The Payout Structure

Both games offer the same two payout options: an annuity paid over 30 years, or a lump sum cash option paid immediately.

The annuity in both games consists of 30 payments: an immediate first payment, followed by 29 annual payments. Each payment is approximately 5 percent larger than the previous one. The total of all 30 payments equals the advertised jackpot before taxes.

The lump sum cash value for both games is typically around 60 percent of the advertised jackpot. This reflects the current value of the prize pool, before the 30 years of projected investment growth that produces the higher advertised number. On a $1 billion jackpot, the cash option is approximately $600 million before taxes.

Both games pay taxes the same way: lottery winnings are ordinary income, federal taxes are withheld at 24 percent at the time of claim, and winners typically owe the remaining difference up to the 37 percent top federal bracket when they file their annual return.

Starting Jackpots After a Win

When a jackpot is won and the game resets, both Powerball and Mega Millions start at a minimum advertised jackpot of $20 million. Both games grow from that starting point with each drawing that passes without a jackpot winner. The pace of growth depends on ticket sales, which in turn depend heavily on how large the jackpot has already grown. This creates the well-known lottery feedback loop: larger jackpots attract more players, which funds faster jackpot growth, which attracts more players.

The Biggest Jackpots in History

The largest lottery jackpot in US history was a Powerball prize of $2.04 billion, won in November 2022 by a single ticket sold in Altadena, California. The winner took the lump sum: approximately $997.6 million before taxes, or roughly $628 million after federal withholding.

The largest Mega Millions jackpot was $1.602 billion, won in August 2023. Both games have crossed the $1 billion mark multiple times in recent years, a phenomenon that was essentially unheard of before the 2015 and 2017 rule changes that extended the jackpot odds.

Which Game Should You Play?

From a strict expected-value standpoint, neither game is a meaningful investment. The odds of winning the jackpot are astronomically long for both, and the expected return on a lottery ticket is well below the cost of the ticket at almost all jackpot levels once taxes are accounted for.

If you are going to play, the most practical approach is to check the current jackpot amounts for both games and buy a ticket in whichever one currently offers the larger prize. Since the two games draw on different nights, you can also play both if you choose. The difference in odds between 1 in 292 million and 1 in 302 million is not meaningful in any practical sense.

Use our calculator to see exactly what a jackpot win in either game would mean for your specific state after all taxes are applied.