Lottery players in Florida and Texas each won prizes over $1 million on Tuesday after their tickets matched all five of the Mega Millions numbers, according to lottery officials in both states.
According to the Texas Lottery, a $1 million ticket was sold Tuesday at a convenience store in Austin, Texas, after a player matched the numbers, except for the final Mega Ball number.
A player in Florida won an even bigger prize in the same drawing, matching five numbers and the included Megaplier, for a prize of $3 million, according to the Florida Lottery.
The winning numbers for the Oct. 22 drawing were 8, 43, 48, 58, 60, and 4.
With nobody taking home the largest prize so far, the total annuitized jackpot has risen to $229 million for Friday’s drawing at 11 p.m., according to Mega Millions.
In September, a Texas player matched all 6 numbers with a four times Megaplier, scoring an $800 million jackpot.
In August, a Florida Lottery player in Panama City claimed a $1 million prize from a Scratch-Off game purchased at a convenience store. Josephine Galarza, 36, chose to take home a lump sum payment of $640,000, lottery officials said.
Changes are on the horizon for the Mega Millions who announced this week a “mega” overhaul to its popular game with larger prizes, better odds, and tickets that are more than twice the price.
In a statement on Monday, officials said tickets will jump from $2 to $5 in April 2025, the second price hike since the game first launched in 2002. The last adjustment was in 2017, when a $40 million starting jackpot was launched.
According to Joshua Johnston, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, the redesigned game is more exciting and will attract more players.
“We are creating a game that both our existing players and people new to Mega Millions will love and get excited about playing,” he said.
Officials said players can also expect more billion-dollar jackpots than ever, faster growing jackpots, a built-in multiplier on every play to boost non-jackpot wins, and no “breakeven” prizes so wins always pay more than the ticket price.
The current game originated from the “The Big Game” in 1996 and was available for players in six states, including Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Massachusetts, Georgia, and Virginia, before it was rebranded as Mega Millions in 2002 and grew to involve more states.