MEGA BALL LOTTERY HISTORY

Tickets went on sale in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Virginia for the new lottery on August 31, 1996. Drawings were held weekly on Fridays until they held a Tuesday drawing on February 10, 1998. On January 13, 1999, jackpot winners had the choice to claim the prize in lump sum for the first time (however, an Illinois winner in late 1998 was allowed to receive their prize in cash.) In May 1999, New Jersey joined The Big Game

New York and Ohio joined the Big Game on May 15, 2002. This was when the game was changed to its current name, Mega Millions. Also the "Big Money Ball" changed its name to the "Mega Ball." After its name change to "Mega Millions" from "The Big Game," the yellow ball in the logo of the Mega Millions read "The Big Game." The first Mega Millions drawing was held on May 17, 2002. Three more states joined. These are Washington in that same year, Texas in 2003, and California in 2005.

To play the game, a player pays one dollar and picks five numbers from 1 to 56 (white balls) and one additional number from 1 to 46 (the Mega Ball number, a yellow ball). In Georgia, New Jersey, New York, and Texas, the player must also choose, in advance, whether they wish to collect a jackpot in lump sum or annuity. Georgia and New Jersey winners can change an annuity ticket to cash; however, the choice is binding in New York and Texas. Tickets may be obtained from either retail locations, or by mail in select states (currently, only Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Virginia offer subscriptions by mail).

We have designed a SYSTEM that projects the five base MEGA MILLIONS Lottery numbers. For every Mega Millions drawing, we generate 352 Arrays (1 array = 1 sheet of numbers) that contains 81 predictions (games) of 5 base Mega Millions numbers. You select the Array that you want to play using our projections. You combine this with a Mega Ball number of your own choosing.