Lottery multipliers
A multiplier raises the prizes below the jackpot and leaves the jackpot alone. On Powerball it's an optional extra dollar called Power Play. On Mega Millions it is built into the $5 ticket and assigned at random when you buy.
Power Play
Power Play costs $1 per play on top of the $2 Powerball ticket. (In Idaho and Montana the two are sold together, for a $3 minimum.) A multiplier is drawn with the numbers, and it multiplies whatever non-jackpot prize your ticket wins.
The multipliers are not equally likely. Powerball publishes the Power Play odds:
| Multiplier | Jackpot $150 million or less | Jackpot over $150 million |
|---|---|---|
| 10X | 1 in 43 | not in play |
| 5X | 2 in 43 | 2 in 42 |
| 4X | 3 in 43 | 3 in 42 |
| 3X | 13 in 43 | 13 in 42 |
| 2X | 24 in 43 | 24 in 42 |
More than half the time it's 2X. Weight each multiplier by its chance and the average is 2.77X when the 10X is in play (119 divided by 43) and 2.60X when it isn't (109 divided by 42).
There's one exception on the chart. Match five white balls without the Powerball and the base prize is $1 million, and with Power Play it is $2 million whatever multiplier was drawn. The 10X never makes it $10 million.
What the extra dollar buys
Here is the arithmetic, from the prize chart. Without Power Play, the fixed prizes on a $2 Powerball ticket return about 32 cents on average, and 8.6 cents of that is the $1 million for five white balls. The other 23.4 cents comes from the smaller prizes.
Power Play adds another $1 million to the five-ball prize, worth 8.6 cents, and multiplies the 23.4 cents of smaller prizes. At an average of 2.60X that adds about 37 cents; at 2.77X, about 41 cents. So the extra dollar returns about 46 cents when the jackpot is over $150 million, and about 50 cents when it's $150 million or less.
That is about the same share Mega Millions says it pays back on its whole game, 50 percent of sales, so the house keeps about half of your extra dollar. I'd say the same about it as about the ticket: if you're buying for the jackpot, Power Play adds nothing to that chance. If the $4 and $7 prizes are what you enjoy, it doubles them at the least, and the cost of that is plain.
Double Play is a separate thing, a second draw with your numbers for another $1, with a $10 million top prize. It is not a multiplier, and I'd price it on its own.
The Mega Millions multiplier
Mega Millions went to a $5 ticket from the April 8, 2025 drawing, and the multiplier came with it. You don't choose it or pay extra. A multiplier of 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X is randomly assigned when you buy and printed on your ticket, and it applies to every prize except the jackpot.
The published odds are 1 in 2.13 for 2X, 1 in 3.2 for 3X, 1 in 8 for 4X, 1 in 16 for 5X and 1 in 32 for 10X. Those are 15, 10, 4, 2 and 1 in 32, and the average works out to exactly 3X: (2 × 15 + 3 × 10 + 4 × 4 + 5 × 2 + 10 × 1) divided by 32 is 96 divided by 32.
The lowest multiplier is 2X, so the chart starts there. Match five white balls without the Mega Ball and the prize runs from $2 million at 2X to $10 million at 10X. The Mega Ball alone pays $10 at 2X and $50 at 10X.
| Match | 2X | 3X | 5X | 10X | Odds (1 in) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $2,000,000 | $3,000,000 | $5,000,000 | $10,000,000 | 12,629,232 |
| 4 + Mega Ball | $20,000 | $30,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | 893,761 |
| 3 + Mega Ball | $400 | $600 | $1,000 | $2,000 | 13,965 |
| 1 + Mega Ball | $14 | $21 | $35 | $70 | 86 |
| Mega Ball only | $10 | $15 | $25 | $50 | 35 |
That's a selection; the full chart, with the 4X column and the other tiers, is on the Mega Millions how-to-play page. California is the exception: its non-jackpot prizes are pari-mutuel, so they depend on sales and how many people win in each tier.
Put the whole chart through the same sum and the non-jackpot prizes on a $5 Mega Millions ticket return about $1.12 on average. The rest of the ticket's value is in the jackpot.
What I'd make of it
A multiplier that is drawn after you buy feels like a second chance. It isn't a chance at anything new; it changes the size of the small prizes, and the averages above already count it. On Mega Millions you can't refuse it, so there's nothing to decide. On Powerball you can, and I'd decide on the price: about 46 to 50 cents back on the dollar, all of it in prizes you were unlikely to hit anyway.
The odds page has the same sum for the base ticket and the jackpot, and the Powerball and Mega Millions pages have the rest of each game. Prizes are taxable whatever multiplied them, and the lottery taxes page covers that.