Mega Price Hike Sparks Buyer Caution

The dream of striking it rich is even more expensive now. The price of a Mega Millions ticket has increased by over 100%, from $2 to $5, and while lottery officials say the prize amounts are five times greater, others are reconsidering their chances.

“If you think about it, it's more than double. She just hasn't played it,” Jim Prather said of his wife. “She might, she hasn't played it since, but she may play it again, you never know,” he continued before purchasing the scratch-off game he prefers to lottery tickets.

Tanya Golden was also a Mega Millions player in the past and is already rethinking her strategy.

“Probably lay off, cut back a little on it, not play as much. $5 kind of expensive,” Golden said inside a Sunoco gas station, where lottery tickets are sold at a brisk pace.

A manager at another station was told by their lottery representative that the price increase is intended to distinguish Mega Millions from its Powerball competitor, whose ticket remains $2. Lottery officials say the odds of winning have slightly increased under this new matrix, and they estimate the jackpots will be much larger too.