The odds of winning Powerball and Mega Millions are not in your favor
The odds of winning the jackpot with Mega Millions or Powerball are approximately 1 in 292 million. Here, we will introduce things that are more likely to be obtained than large sums of money.
A new lottery game is set to be available in more than 20 states across the country, with winners expected to become lifelong millionaires.
The new game, dubbed “Millionaire for Life,” was announced in a news release from the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) on Thursday, January 15th. Apart from Millionaire for Life, MUSL also oversees Powerball, Lotto America, and other lottery games.
The new game is set to replace two long-running games: Cash4Life, which paid winners $1,000 a day for life, and Lucky for Life, which gave winners $25,000 a year for life.
Those games are being phased out, but the new games will increase prizes to $1 million a year in lifetime prize money and a second-place prize of $100,000 a year, according to a news release.
“Millionaire for Life offers the best ‘for life’ prizes that players, especially young players, are attracted to,” Tom Seaver, chairman and senior director of the Colorado Lottery’s Millionaire for Life product group, said in a statement.
Here’s what players need to know about the new game.
How is the Millionaire for Life game played?
MUSL said details on how to play Millionaire for Life will be published online on February 12th. However, both the Montana and Wyoming lotteries provided more detailed information about how the games would be played.
The game has two pools of numbers, similar to Powerball and Mega Millions, according to both state lotteries. The first has numbers from 1 to 58, and the second has numbers from 1 to 5. A lottery will select five numbers from the first pool and one from the second pool, named the Millionaire Ball.
If all five numbers from the first pool match the numbers from the second pool, the winner will win $1 million per year for life, but if only five numbers match, the winner will win $100,000 per year for life.
When is the Millionaire for Life game played?
According to MUSL, tickets for the new game will cost $5 and the draw for the game will be held daily starting Sunday, February 22nd at 11:15pm ET.
Where will the new lottery game be played?
Officials said new game tickets will be sold in the following states: Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Tickets will be sold in New York when they go on sale, the people said, but they are currently awaiting regulatory approval.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Contact us at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow us at X @fern_cerv_.
