LINCOLN COUNTY, Tenn. (WHNT) — Playing in the lottery comes at a higher cost after the price of a Mega Millions ticket more than doubled.
Folks in Tennessee are feeling those impacts, especially in a place they call “The Magic Mile.”
It’s a stretch of road starting right at the Alabama border, with three lottery shops within 500 feet of one another. Despite Tuesday night being a drawing night for the Mega Millions jackpot, the road had less traffic during the day.
Some credit the decline to the Mega Millions price hike.
“It’s crazy, I don’t understand it,” Joann Krebs, a Stateline Lottery customer, said. “It’s all about the money.”
People are used to buying their Mega Millions tickets for $2. They now have to pay $5, a 150% increase. Lottery officials said the change stems from what they consider “jackpot fatigue”, or folks buying fewer tickets from not being as enticed by the winning total. The cost increase allows for bigger earnings.
Michelle Broiles was a frequent Mega Millions player but did not purchase a ticket Tuesday after hearing about the new prices.
“And there’s a lot of people saying that too,” Broiles said. “They’re not gonna buy them.”
Broiles’s statement holds true. While Krebs doesn’t play Mega Millions herself, she said friends of hers who play also opted out of buying into Tuesday’s drawing.
“I know a couple of people that play it religiously and they said they’re not playing it no more,” Krebs said. “So, I think they’re gonna drop in sales.”
The price hike comes with a promise for more, from raising the starting jackpot price from $20 million to $50 million to non-jackpot winners being guaranteed at least $10.
Krebs isn’t sure she buys all the new changes.
“They say there’s going to better prizes, or bigger prizes, more often,” Krebs said. “I’m not sure about all that.”
Lottery officials said the cost increase should raise the odds of winning from one in 303 million to one in 290 million.
Tuesday’s jackpot is $54 million.
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