The Megaplier was an optional add-on feature on a Mega Millions lottery ticket. When players opted-in, the Megaplier would potentially boost secondary prizes up to 5 times. This feature was upgraded as a part of the Mega Millions revamp which kicked off on 8 April, 2025, now called the ‘Multiplier’. The Multiplier feature is built-in to the price of a ticket, and can multiply prizes up to 10 times! For instance, if you were to win the US$1 million second-placed prize, with a multiplier of 10x, this could increase to US$10 million.

Still curious about how the Megaplier worked? If so, see the below article, which was written before the changes took place.

How Does the Megaplier Work?

Mega Millions lottery draws take place twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays. To participate in the draw, all you have to do is select five main numbers from 1-70, and one Mega Ball number from 1-25. When you purchase your tickets you have the option of including the Megaplier in your lottery entry. Mark the Megaplier multiplier box and you’re on your way. There is an extra cost per line, it’s true, but there’s also the chance that you could multiply your prize by as much as five times when you win.

Do You Need the Megaplier to Win the Jackpot?

Mega Millions’ second division prize, normally set at US$1,000,000, can be increased to as much as US$5,000,000! All you have to do is include the Megaplier option with your ticket to potentially increase your non-jackpot winnings by 2, 3, 4, or 5 times, depending on the Megaplier randomly selected for the draw.

For example, if you match the five main numbers in the draw you would normally win a second-tier Match 5 prize of US$1,000,000. However if you played the Megaplier and the Megaplier selected was “3”, your Match 5 prize would be worth US$3,000,000.

Linda Evans from Dry Fork, Virginia, matched the five main numbers in the Mega Millions draw on 13 December 2016, entitling her to a US$1 million second division prize. However, Ms. Evans’s winnings came out to US$5 million. Her prize was multiplied by five because she included the Mega Millions Megaplier on her winning ticket and “5” was the Megaplier selected for the draw.

In the Mega Millions draw on 16 August 2016, Reg Abare from Barre, Vermont, matched the five main numbers, falling just short of winning the jackpot. For his second division win, Abare usually would have been entitled to a US$1 million prize but Abare had added the Megaplier. The Megaplier selected for the draw was “5” and therefore Abare’s prize was US$5 million.

One thing all these second division winners had in common is that they added the Mega Millions Megaplier when they purchased their lottery tickets.

How Much Does the Megaplier Boost Secondary Prizes?

Playing with the Megaplier option does will not affect the size of the jackpot. The Megaplier number selected for the draw defines the size of the non-jackpot prizes, as can be seen in the following tables:

* Mega Ball

* Mega Ball

As you can see, with a small additional expense, you can multiply secondary winnings by as much as five times. For example, the fifth division US$200 prize for matching three main numbers and the Mega Ball can be boosted to US$400, US$600, US$800, or US$1,000, depending on the Megaplier number chosen for the draw.

There’s no need to boost Mega Millions jackpot prizes as they can grow to epic proportions! Take a look at a list of the biggest Mega Millions jackpots in history!

What Are the Odds of Winning a Mega Millions Megaplier Prize?

The Megaplier does not affect the odds of winning the jackpot or of any of the secondary prizes. Instead, the Megaplier affects the size of the non-jackpot prizes awarded in a draw. The Megaplier can multiply those prizes by a factor of two, three, four, or five. The Megaplier is selected before the regular Mega Millions draw from a separate pool of fifteen balls. The Megaplier most likely to be chosen is “3” and the least likely is “5”, as can be seen in the table below.

How Does the Megaplier Compare to Powerball’s Power Play?

When you buy lottery tickets for the US Powerball, you can add the Power Play option and multiply your non-jackpot prizes up to 10 times. With Power Play, the Match 5+0 prize grows to US$2,000,000 and all other lower prizes are multiplied by the Power Play option selected (2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, 10X).

In comparison, when you add the Megaplier to your Mega Millions lottery tickets, the Match 5+0 prize can grow as high as US$5,000,000 if “5” is selected as the Megaplier for that draw. The maximum Megaplier is “5” whereas the maximum Power Play multiplier is “10”.

What is Megaplier’s History?

The Megaplier was initially offered only by the Texas Lottery starting in 2003 and its initial concept was functionally similar to the original version of Powerball’s Power Play. Starting in 2010, the Megaplier feature become part of the lottery’s offer in other states. Between September 2010 and October 2013, winners of the Mega Millions second prize with the Megaplier option were automatically awarded a 4X prize of US$1 million. The current system defining the Megaplier and the prize levels was set on 18 October 2013.

The first US$5 million second-tier Mega Millions prize ever awarded went in November 2013 to a ticket sold in Texas where the Megaplier was first introduced.

Why Doesn’t California Offer Mega Millions with Megaplier?

You can play Mega Millions all across the United States, as we’ve noted in our informative Mega Millions Guide. The only location where there is no Megaplier option is California. Unlike other states, California pays Mega Millions prize levels two through nine according to a pari-mutuel distribution of the Mega Millions prize pool aggregated in California for those prize levels. The reason for this alternate prize distribution system is California’s penal code, which distinguishes between a “lottery” which cannot be broken and a “banked game” whose bank theoretically could be broken. California authorized only a “lottery” in its Lottery Act, passed in 1984.

As a result of this difference, Californian winners of non-jackpot prizes receive different prize amounts than equivalent winners in other states. This situation can occasionally lead to a Californian winning a higher second division prize than the US$1,000,000 awarded to a Mega Millions second division winner elsewhere.

What Other Lotteries Have Multipliers?

Mega Millions is not the only lottery to have an optional multiplier feature to boost secondary prizes. As mentioned, Powerball offers Power Play, which can multiply non-jackpot prizes by as much as ten times.

Should You Add the Mega Millions Megaplier to Your Ticket?

Now that you understand how the Mega Millions Megaplier feature works, you might be wondering if you’re getting the best value for your money when you add it to your ticket. While some may say that you’re spending more in hopes of winning more, we think that if you do end up getting lucky playing Mega Millions, you might as well take home a boosted prize!

Related Articles

The post What is the Old Mega Millions Megaplier? appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

If you didn’t already believe in beginner’s luck, this story of a Qatari man who hit the jackpot playing the Philippines Lotto after only a month on TheLotter just might convince you. We couldn’t wait to talk to A.I.A. in order to congratulate him on his big win and find out how he made it all happen. Read on to find out all about this jackpot winner’s story and what he plans to do with his huge winnings – you might even pick up a few lottery tips!

Note: Philippines lotteries are currently unavailable at TheLotter.

Beating the odds to win the jackpot

A.I.A. told us that he started playing on TheLotter in February 2022 after reading about us online. After that, he didn’t have to wait very long because on 5 March 2022 he matched all six numbers to win a Philippines Lotto jackpot of US$241,325 – approximately €220k!

He beat the 1 in 5 million odds with these lucky numbers: 11, 18, 33, 34, 36, 39. When we called A.I.A. with the good news he said, “I’m so happy and my wife is so happy too!”

Hear what our winner had to say about the exciting win:

Playing to win

Even though A.I.A. has only been on TheLotter for a short time, he’s made full use of all the features the site has on offer. A.I.A. has played with subscriptions, multi-draw packages, and syndicate entries. Still, hard as it is to believe, his jackpot win came from a regular ticket.

A good plan for the jackpot money

It’s clear that the money will be put to very good use. When we asked what he planned to do with his winnings, A.I.A. responded, “I will pay my loans and I will support my family.”

But A.I.A. also told us he was nowhere near done with playing the lottery on TheLotter. His favourite lottery to play has been the Germany lotto and his new lottery dream is to win the Philippines Super Lotto. In fact, he told us that after winning the jackpot he purchased more than 1,000 lines for the Philippines Super Lotto.

A jackpot worth playing for

The Philippines Lotto may not be the most well-known lottery out there, but there’s a reason jackpot winners like A.I.A. like it so much.

Players only have to match six numbers to take the top prize and the lottery has absolutely no jackpot cap. Back in August 2016, this little lottery gave out a prize worth €1.9 million.

That’s the joy of playing the lottery online: you can pick and choose games from all around the world! To find the right lottery for you and see if you can join A.I.A. as one of our millions of winners, purchase lottery tickets!

Related Articles

The post Philippines Lotto Winner Hits Jackpot Online with TheLotter appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

One man’s amazing road to wealth… In the spring of 2015 M. opened an online lottery account at TheLotter from his home in Iraq – three months on he’d won a lottery jackpot of $6.4 million in the US! Loads of people all over the world are following the footsteps of the famous man from Baghdad and have started playing international top lotteries online, like the US Powerball!

Note: M. was the first online lottery player at TheLotter to be featured in the international press but there have been other big lottery winners at TheLotter since, including a woman from Panama named Aura who scooped up a giant Florida Lotto jackpot worth $30 million USD in July 2017. She became an overnight sensation in Central America. Over the years, TheLotter has paid out over $100 million in prizes to more than 6 million winners from across the globe.

Driving in Baghdad, He Got a Phone Call that Changed His Life

“Are you sure? Are you sure?!” — M., a 37-year-old father from Baghdad in Iraq, kept repeating the question when he got the phone call with the news he had won the $6.4 million jackpot in the Oregon Megabucks on 24 August, 2015.

M. had only started playing lotteries in the US and Europe through TheLotter three months before he won. “It was a shock. At first, I thought it was a joke. I was driving in my car, I was going to the bank… so I get a call from TheLotter, from a great person called Christine, and she told me the great news, so I was in shock! I suspected I’d won something, but had no idea it was the jackpot.”

Jackpot Winner Fears for His Life, Pleads for His Name Not to Be Revealed

After careful preparation in the autumn, M. flew to Oregon to claim his millions in December. He requested that TheLotter and the Oregon Lottery keep his name confidential because of safety concerns. “The situation in Iraq is not good. It’s very dangerous. If my name were revealed, it would be a big problem.”

Oregon Lottery director Jack Roberts agreed to the unusual request. “The personal safety risk that he and his family might face seems stronger than the public interest of knowing who the person is,” Roberts told local media. “I don’t want to read that somebody has been kidnapped or killed because we announce them as a Megabucks winner.”

How Can a Foreigner Play the Lottery in the United States?

So how did he do it? How did M. participate in a US lottery from Iraq?

M. played US lotteries online through TheLotter, a worldwide messenger service that was established in 2002. Through TheLotter people can request somebody to physically purchase lottery tickets on their behalf, even when they are outside of the country or state where the lottery takes place. TheLotter doesn’t operate lotteries, but its local reps in more than 20 countries across the world purchase official paper tickets and make a scanned copy available in online players’ secure personal accounts. TheLotter enables people to play the Mega Millions, play the US Powerball, and play the EuroMillions lotteries and a host of other draws from anywhere in the world.

Is it Legal to Play the Lottery Online?

I. Nelson Rose, the eminent professor of law at the Whittier Law School in California, said in the New York Times article about the Iraqi lottery winner that TheLotter’s method of providing official lottery tickets to online participants is “100 percent legal”.

Other media outlets, such as CBS, the Daily Mail, and NBC, also reported that it was perfectly legal for foreigners to win American lottery prizes by purchasing official tickets online at TheLotter. This was confirmed officially by the Oregon Lottery: their exact words were that “the system is ingenious”. The method is allowed, because TheLotter’s clients do not actually play online. They merely request that the service’s reps physically go out to buy official paper tickets on their behalf.

M.’s future, and the future of his children, looks bright. Whilst he had a hard time believing it was real when he first signed up in the spring, after his win he said that “TheLotter was trustworthy and the real deal as everyone on staff was so helpful in getting the prize claimed”.

Asked if he was going to continue to buy lottery tickets: “I’m going to continue to play every day!”

* Note: since M. from Iraq won his American jackpot, and in addition to the woman from Panama who won the $30 million Florida Lotto jackpot, TheLotter has seen a Canadian customer, an Australian, a man from the UK, and a man from El Salvador each win $1 million in the US Powerball; and a woman from Ukraine win $1 million playing US Mega Millions; all of them by ordering their tickets online. You can read the stories of these lucky lottery winners here.

Related Articles

The post The Story of an Iraqi Man Who Stunned America appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

Have you ever dreamed of winning a life-changing amount of money? If so, you might be interested in learning about the biggest jackpots in the world that have been awarded by various lotteries. Join us as we explore the most amazing prizes that have been won by lucky players across the globe!

What Is the World’s Biggest Jackpot?

A US$2.04 billion US Powerball prize won in November 2022 holds the record for the world’s all-time biggest jackpot and the single largest lottery prize to be awarded to a single winner. Prior to this, a US$1.586 billion US Powerball prize won in January 2016 was the largest lottery jackpot ever won. This was split among three winners from California, Florida, and Tennessee, who were each eligible to take home a US$533 million slice of the prize.

How High Can Jackpots Go?

There is no limit to how high jackpots can go, as long as they keep rolling over without a winner. However, some lotteries have a jackpot cap or limit that prevents the top prize from growing beyond a certain amount. For example, EuroMillions has a jackpot cap of €250 million, while EuroJackpot has a jackpot limit of €120 million. If the jackpot reaches the cap or limit and is not won, it will stay at that amount for a maximum number of draws before it must be won or shared with lower-tier winners.

What Are the Largest Starting Jackpots?

When it comes to the biggest starting jackpots, US Powerball and Mega Millions are in a league of their own. Powerball’s jackpot prize resets to an estimated US$20 million* every time it is won, while Mega Millions resets to an estimated US$50 million. Both of these starting jackpots are more than what many lotteries pay out as their top prize.

Among the European lotteries, the one with the highest starting jackpot is EuroMillions, which begins at €17 million and can grow until it reaches the prize cap of €250 million.

The next largest is EuroJackpot, which has a starting jackpot of €10 million and a jackpot limit of €120 million. This lottery has relatively good odds and a large fanbase, so its top prize is often won before it gets too high.

The Biggest Lottery Jackpot Winners in the World

A US$2.04 billion US Powerball jackpot was won on November 7, 2022, by a single ticket sold in the state of California. This extraordinary win is also the only jackpot to surpass US$2 billion making Edwin Castro the biggest lottery winner in history. In September 2025, a US Powerball jackpot of $1.787 billion was awarded, making it the second-largest prize in the lottery’s history. The prize was shared by two winning tickets, one from Missouri and another from Texas.

Top 10 US Jackpots

The United States is famous across the globe for consistently paying out unimaginable top prizes and breaking jackpot records time and time again! Unsurprisingly, the US comes in first place when it comes to the biggest jackpots, with US Powerball and Mega Millions paying out all top ten of the world’s biggest lottery prizes.

Check out the top 10 biggest US jackpots ever won, which also happen to be the biggest jackpots in the entire world!

Read more information about the biggest Mega Millions jackpots and the largest Powerball jackpot prizes.

Which Lotteries Have the Highest Jackpots?

Apart from US Powerball and Mega Millions, which are the undisputed leaders in jackpot size, there are other lotteries that offer impressive top prizes as well. Here are some of them:

• SuperEnalotto: This Italian lottery has no jackpot limit and soared to an incredible €371.1 million in February 2023.
• EuroMillions: This transnational lottery has a jackpot cap of €250 million. It was won for the first time in Austria in the March 28, 2025, draw. The second largest jackpot amount of €240 million was also won by an Austrian player in December 2023. The jackpot starts at €17 million and can grow rapidly with rollovers.
• EuroJackpot: This pan-European lottery has a jackpot limit of €120 million and has reached it seven times, most recently in December 2024. The jackpot starts at €10 million and offers relatively good odds of winning.
• Powerball Australia: In recent years, Powerball has offered the largest jackpots in Australian lottery history, most recently in February 2024 when a record-breaking AU$200 million jackpot was won by two winners. The Australia Powerball jackpot prize starts at AU$3 million and will grow with each rollover until its won!

Will the Jackpot Record Be Broken?

The jackpots we mentioned are the largest in the world right now, but they could be usurped at any time! If you want to take a shot at winning a mind-blowing prize, play online lotteries at TheLotter.

Related Articles

The post The Biggest Jackpots in the World appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

Spectacular Results in La Primitiva Draw 58/2016

The numbers drawn in the La Primitiva on 21 July 2016 were 4, 5, 22, 36, 42, 47, bonus number 6 and Reintegro 4. Christina held one of the two issued La Primitiva tickets which matched 5 regular numbers and the bonus number and as a result she won a mind-boggling €150,979.68 ($166,122.84). No one won the La Primitiva first prize, nor did anyone scoop up the jackpot, a.k.a. the “Especial”. Christina also won a further €8 by matching three drawn numbers on another line of her 25-line ticket.

Related Articles

The post Christina from the Philippines Wins Massive La Primitiva Prize Online Through TheLotter appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

With the feeling of victory still present, J.G. assured us that it is only a matter of time before we call again to inform him that he has won a jackpot prize. “Maybe you’ll even call me today because I played this morning. We could be talking to each other again very soon!” he amusedly told our TheLotter agent.

J. G. matched five numbers out of the six selected in the draw. Check out his winning ticket:

Being Latin Brings Luck!

TheLotter has been offering its online lottery courier services for 20 years and has been fortunate enough to award over $100 million in lottery prizes to millions of winning tickets – including a large number of Latinos.

J.G. is actually just one of TheLotter’s many Latin American winners, including H.V., a Salvadoran who took home $1 million from US Powerball, and A.D., a Panamanian who won $30 million playing with TheLotter!

Get Inspired By Our Winner!

Now that you’ve met our lucky Mexican winner, get inspired by his story and buy your own official lottery tickets from anywhere in the world at TheLotter, the world’s leading online lottery service.

Related Articles

The post €64,092.47 SuperEnalotto Prize Winner Confesses “I had a feeling I was going to win.” appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

Our Winner

E.S. lives with his wife in Monterrey, Mexico and assured us that she was going to be the first to whom he would tell the good news. “She’s going to be so excited!“

E.S. also told us that he has been working for more than six years as an employee in an important food company, has no children, and that he already has plans for his prize: “Pay some debts, go on some little trips, vacation, and see what else can be done. Maybe invest the money.”

Does Our Winner Have Any Lucky Numbers?

E.S. confided that he usually plays with random numbers and that he prefers to choose the numbers himself according to the feeling of the moment instead of using the Quick Pick feature. “There are some numbers that I usually repeat, but as there are three lines, it is ultimately random. As there are many numbers, I do not choose any repeatedly. I have no secret.”

Related Articles

The post He Came, Played, Won US$50,000 in US Powerball, and Stayed! appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

The numbers that came up in the draw were: 1, 6, 12, 18, 42 / 2, 7

The numbers on A.C.’s ticket were: 1, 6, 12, 18, 42 / 2, 7

A.C. had successfully matched the five main numbers selected, but unfortunately not the two Lucky Stars.

Play Austria EuroMillions and you could be our next big winner!

Success in Austria EuroMillions

A.C., a veteran player at TheLotter, had been playing EuroMillions regularly but only recently switched from playing the Spanish version to Austria EuroMillions. Why the change?

“We did that because we were winning more [in that version],” A.C. told us, speaking on his wife’s behalf as well. He also said that if he had won the EuroMillions jackpot, it would be easier for them to travel from Luxembourg to Austria to collect the prize.

Related Articles

The post Luxembourg Couple Wins €36,694.30 Playing EuroMillions appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

One savvy systematic player cashed major prizes in some of TheLotter’s biggest lotteries – €578K playing in Italy’s SuperEnalotto, €112K in the Spanish La Primitiva— all in the course of one lucky year!

Man Plays Lotteries Online and Keeps Winning Non-Stop

A.K. from Latvia, enjoyed a phenomenal 2013, chock-full of big lottery wins from draws held all over the world. A.K.’s biggest win came at the beginning of the year, with a massive €578,000 (approximately US$ 778,000) win in the 26 January 2013 SuperStar draw! In the La Primitiva draw on 23 June 2013, A.K. won a €90,722.31 second place prize and other smaller wins that boosted his prize total in the draw to €110,071.17!

These big wins were in addition to multiple lottery prizes A.K. won over the course of the year, including a a hearty $10,000 pay-day by playing Canada Lotto 649’s draw on 6 April. Just a few weeks later he took home a $2,318 La Primitiva prize in the 25 April draw. Before the end of that same month he scooped up yet another prize – €4,926 in the exciting France Loto. This marked the first time that a TheLotter player managed to score so many amazing wins in a single year! A.K. isn’t the only one to win multiple prizes though. There have been numerous winners who have repeatedly won huge lottery prizes . While for many, it’s simply luck of the draw, several serial winners do have prize-winning strategies that actually work!

The Best Strategy for Winning Online Lottery Prizes – a Formula for Success

So what is the secret to the Latvian lottery champion’s success? The answer lies in his use of systematic forms, which have yielded him great results; he has won hundreds of thousands of euros in online lotteries. Since 2009, A.K. has been playing it global online with TheLotter from his native Latvia and, up until his SuperEnalotto Superstar win he collected a total of 1,248 wins on the site – a number which is rising fast!

The stellar combination of winning numbers, thanks to the systematic form A.K. used, gave a sensational €578,079.25 (over $777,000) in total prizes when the lucky numbers were pulled in the SuperEnalotto! In his June La Primitiva win, A.K. purchased a 9-number systematic form and was able to match five regular numbers with 84 lines. 

What a SuperStar! Online Lotto Winner Won the SuperEnalotto SuperStar!

A.K. played the Italian SuperStar lottery, but what exactly is the difference between the SuperStar and the SuperEnalotto? In short: not an awful lot. The two are merely different sides of the same coin. A coin worth millions, that is.
The Italy SuperStar builds on SuperEnalotto’s prize structure by adding an extra eight prize categories giving a total of 13 ways to win. The SuperStar, a powerful additional number, adds €2 million onto the SuperEnalotto jackpot prize, €1 million onto the second prize, and multiplies the third, fourth and fifth SuperEnalotto prize categories by between 25 and 100 times. Had A.K.’s SuperStar selection of the number 11 come up, the combined prize winning powers inherent in both the SuperStar and a systematic form of nine numbers would have further increased the pay-out, making A.K. a lotto multi-millionaire.

How Does a Systematic Form for a Lottery Work?

Here is a breakdown of how A.K.’s super systematic form (also known in some countries as a “system form”) produced such a big prize haul in the Italian SuperStar lotto:

• One match 5 + 1 line for the SuperStar 4th Prize, worth €479,123.39
• Three match 5 lines for the SuperStar 6th Prize, worth €29,945.22 each, €89,835.66 total
• Thirty match 4 lines for the SuperStar 8th Prize, worth €284.34 each, €8530.20 total
• Forty match 3 lines for the SuperStar 10th Prize, worth €14.75 each, €590 total
• 74 winning lines gave a combined total of €578,079.25 in prizes in the 2013/12 SuperStar draw

As one of the world’s top ranking lotteries, Italy SuperStar can be found shoulder-to-shoulder with the well-known SuperEnalotto. To learn more, read our guide to the SuperEnalotto.

Related Articles

The post Our Lucky Player Scores Multiple Wins in One Year! appeared first on The Lotter Blog.

What Is The Secret Behind His Lucky Numbers?

We were intrigued to find out how he chose the numbers and eager for some advice. During our interview, A.F. told us that he had favourite numbers which he played regularly, but the mandatory Powerball number did not allow for him to play with all of them – so he set out to change up his strategy.

A.F.’s numbers: 11, 13, 15, 17, 63 and 13

The winning numbers: 11, 13, 15, 17, 63 and 13

While it’s true that the only obstacle between A.F. and the US$156 million jackpot was just a single number, we definitely need to acknowledge that his strategy works, in that his good intuition helped him match a majority of the draw’s winning numbers!

Check out the winning ticket!

Related Articles

The post Mexican Financial Advisor Reveals His Winning Powerball Numbers appeared first on The Lotter Blog.