I wrote this article for my mother. She constantly complains that she doesn’t know how the multipliers work when it comes to the MegaMillions jackpot and the PowerBall jackpot. She believed once upon a time that if you pay for the multiplier option and you won the jackpot, your resulting jackpot prize is increased. That is actually not the case. So I’m going to hopefully clarify what these multipliers actually are, and how to play them.
You’ve probably seen a multiplier on the lottery jackpot played in your state. It may have different names, but the idea is the same. In the case of MegaMillions, the multiplier is called the “Megaplier.” If you want to play your normal numbers, but you opt to include the Megaplier option, you’ll have to pay an additional dollar. The Megaplier multiplies anything you win, multiplied by the Megaplier amount – ACCEPT for the grand prize. Any of the lesser prize options will be multiplied by the Megaplier amount, including the $1,000,000 second-tier prize.
The Megaplier can be anywhere from 2 times the winning amount up to 5 times the winning amount ($1,000,000 times 5 = $5,000,000). The Megaplier amount is drawn in a similar way that the jackpot numbers are drawn. 15 balls are mixed, each containing a Megaplier amount, and whichever ball is selected, the amount on that ball becomes the Megaplier amount for the upcoming drawing.
For the PowerBall jackpot, the multiplier feature is called the Power Play. The Power Play option is fundamentally the same as the Megaplier. It costs an additional $1.00 to play with that option, and the prizes are multiplied anywhere between 2 – 5 times depending on which Power Play multiplier is in play.
Side note: when I mention that the multiplier costs an additional $1.00, this means that the price of your lottery game costs $3.00 for every game with the multiplier rather than the normal $2.00 per game.
You need to win according to the normal rules of winning in order to take advantage of a multiplier. In other words, you’ll at least need to draw the PowerBall number or the MegaBall number, or whatever combination of numbers is required to win a prize. If you don’t do that successfully, the multiplier does not pay you anything.
And I’ll say again: if you pay for the multiplier and you win the $50 million jackpot, your jackpot grand prize DOES NOT get multiplied.
The PowerBall jackpot and the MegaMillions jackpot do differ in one aspect. The PowerBall jackpot offers an additional add-on called the Double Play. This add-on also costs $1.00. What this does for you is it essentially gives you another chance to draw your winning numbers. Once the PowerBall numbers are drawn, there is a second drawing for the Double Play. The second drawing is conducted the same way the original drawing is completed. However, the difference is that the jackpot prizes are different.
For example, the highest jackpot prize is always going to be $10,000,000 in the Double Play drawing. This is regardless of what the main Powerball jackpot amount rises to. However, the lower tier prizes are a slight percentage higher than the normal Powerball payouts (you win $7.00 for 0 numbers plus the Powerball number in the Double Play compared to $4.00 for the same results in the regular drawing). The rules of winning are the exact same: you need the Powerball number or at least three non-Powerball numbers to win something.
For the PowerBall jackpot, the Double Play add-on is an option, and the Power Play add-on is an option. If you decide you want to be in both of these add-ons, you will pay an additional $1.00 for each, plus the normal price of a PowerBall ticket. The total per game with both options will be $4.00 for EACH game. And in case you were wondering, the multiplier has NO EFFECT on the results of the Double Play game. The multiplier only applies to the main PowerBall drawing. I hope you understand now, Mom.