The short answer. Mega Millions is a multi-state US jackpot game drawn on Tuesday and
Friday at 11:00 PM US Eastern. Since April 2025 each play costs $5, includes a built-in multiplier, and
is one line of five numbers from 1–70 plus a Mega Ball from 1–24. In the UAE and India the
results arrive on Wednesday and Saturday mornings.
What changed in April 2025?
Mega Millions was rebuilt in April 2025, and anyone who learned the game before then is working from
an out-of-date picture. Three things changed at once. The price of a play went up to $5. The
multiplier, which used to be an optional add-on sold under the name Megaplier, became part of every
ticket, so there is no longer a box to tick or a decision to make at the counter. And the gold Mega
Ball now comes from a pool of 1 to 24.
The practical consequence for a reader here is about old tickets. A slip bought before the change
belongs to the old game, with its own rules and its own prize table. If you are clearing out a drawer
and find one, compare it against the official record for its date and ask the official lottery what it
was worth; do not assume the current format applies to it. Everything on this page, and the format
table below, describes the game as it runs now.
How does Mega Millions work today?
Mega Millions format and schedule | Game | You pick | Drawn | Draw time |
|---|
| Mega Millions |
5 numbers from 1–70 + Mega Ball 1–24 |
Tuesday and Friday |
11:00 PM ET |
The draw uses two sets of balls. Five white balls come out of the larger set, numbered 1 to 70. One
gold ball, the Mega Ball, comes out of a separate set numbered 1 to 24. A line wins the jackpot only
when all five white numbers and the Mega Ball match. Because the two sets are separate, the Mega Ball
can show the same number as one of the white balls, and a result that looks like a repeat is correct.
The order of the white balls means nothing. Results are listed in ascending order for convenience, and
your line is checked on membership: did each of your five numbers come out, yes or no. The Mega Ball is
always listed last and always checked on its own.
Most recent Mega Millions draw on record: 25 Sep 2026 — 25, 57, 58, 67, 68 + MB 16.
What does the built-in multiplier do?
It is on every ticket
You do not choose it, and you cannot leave it off. That removes one of the most common checking
errors of the old game, where two people with the same numbers could be owed different amounts because
only one of them had paid for the multiplier.
It never touches the jackpot
The multiplier works on the prizes below the jackpot. The jackpot itself is not multiplied, whatever
value applies that night.
Where to see it
The multiplier for each draw is published with the winning numbers. Some listings, older records in
particular, still print it under the Megaplier name. The label is historical; the figure next to it is
the one that matters for that date. For how exactly it is applied at each prize level, the official
Mega Millions rules are the reference, and we do not reproduce prize amounts here.
What are the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot?
Mega Millions top-prize odds: there are 12,103,014 ways to choose 5 numbers from 1–70, and the Mega Ball is drawn from a separate pool of 24, so matching everything is 1 in 290,472,336. This is arithmetic on the game’s format, not a claim about any draw.
That figure is pure arithmetic on the format: the number of ways to pick five numbers from seventy,
multiplied by the twenty-four possible Mega Balls. The Mega Ball pool is the smaller number but it does
the heavier lifting, because it multiplies everything before it. A single extra ball in that pool would
add one more full copy of every white-ball combination to the total.
It is also why the Mega Millions jackpot odds sit so close to Powerball’s. The white pools are
almost the same size and the bonus pools differ by two. We lay that comparison out in full in
Powerball vs Mega Millions, and the
Powerball guide covers the other game on its own terms.
None of this is affected by history. Each Mega Millions draw is independent, a Mega Ball that has not
appeared for weeks is no more likely to appear on Friday, and the frequency counts on our
lucky numbers page are published with a plain statement that they do not
predict the next draw.
What time is the Mega Millions draw in the UAE and India?
The Mega Millions draw in your local time | Game | Local draw time | UAE (GST) | India (IST) | Pakistan (PKT) | UK |
|---|
| Mega Millions |
11:00 PM ET |
7:00 AM (next day) |
8:30 AM (next day) |
8:00 AM (next day) |
4:00 AM (next day) |
Converted for 28 September 2026. US clocks change in March and November, which moves every US draw by an hour against the Gulf and India; this table is recalculated every time the page loads.
Mega Millions draws at 11:00 PM, one minute later than Powerball’s 10:59 PM slot, which is why
the two are often mentioned together. They never share a night, though. Mega Millions has Tuesday and
Friday to itself; Powerball takes Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
For the Gulf, Friday’s draw has a pleasant quirk: it lands on Saturday morning, at the start of
the UAE weekend, when most people are not checking a phone on the way to work. Tuesday’s draw
arrives on a Wednesday morning. In India the same draws land about ninety minutes later on the clock,
still well before most offices open.
Both times shift by an hour twice a year, when the United States moves its clocks in March and
November and the Gulf and India do not. The table above is worked out fresh each time the page loads,
so it is always correct for today’s date without any mental arithmetic.
How should I check a Mega Millions ticket?
- Read the draw date on the ticket, which is a US date. A Friday ticket is checked against the result you
see on Saturday morning here.
- Check that the ticket was bought after the April 2025 change; an older ticket needs the official record for
the old game.
- Open the Mega Millions results page and find that exact date.
- Count how many of your five white numbers appear among the five drawn.
- Check your Mega Ball against the gold ball only, never against the white balls.
- Take anything that looks like a win to the official lottery in the state where the ticket was sold.
If a ticket covers several consecutive draws, repeat the process for each date on it. A ticket that
missed on Tuesday is still live for the Friday it also names.
We publish results, nothing more. This site does not sell Mega Millions tickets, is not affiliated
with the game or with any state lottery, and cannot confirm a prize. Whether you can buy a ticket or
claim one from where you live depends on where you are; ask the official operator. Treat any play as
entertainment you can afford.
Where can I follow every draw?
Every result we hold is on the Mega Millions results page, dated by
the US draw night and kept in an archive you can scroll back through. The bell on that page subscribes
you to Mega Millions alone, so a result reaches your phone on Wednesday and Saturday mornings without
alerts for games you do not follow. If you track the Emirates games as well, they are all on the
winning numbers page.
