A cash-value option (the usual choice), when chosen by a jackpot winner, pays the approximate present value of the installments.

In most cases, a lottery joining Mega Millions on or after January 31, 2010, offered Powerball before the MUSL cross-sell expansion.

Tickets for The Big Game began to be sold in Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Virginia on August 31, 1996.

For the November 15, 2005, drawing, a group called "The Lucky 7" held the only jackpot-winning ticket, purchased in Anaheim, California, winning $315 million.

[18] The New Jersey Lottery, among others, in early 2009 announced it would seek permission to sell Powerball tickets alongside Mega Millions.

In October 2009, an agreement between Mega Millions and MUSL allowed all U.S. lotteries, including New Jersey's, to offer both games.

Presumably due to their experience with the Power Play option for Powerball, all 23 lotteries joining Mega Millions on January 31, 2010, immediately offered Megaplier to their players.

On March 13, 2010, New Jersey became the first Mega Millions participant (just before the cross-sell expansion) to produce a jackpot-winning ticket for Powerball after joining that game.

In preparation for the October 28, 2017, format change the then-46 Mega Millions members were given the choice of offering a $3, two-game play (called "Just the Jackpot").

These lotteries offered the "Just the Jackpot" option upon the format change: Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

This was done to enforce social distancing and discourage crowding of selling venues for large jackpots, and to account for lower interest rates.

[21] Over time, the size of jackpots has increased because of the higher ticket price, the larger number of states participating, and the reduced odds of winning.

The second largest Mega Millions jackpot, $1.537 billion, was won on October 23, 2018, by one ticket, sold in South Carolina.

[23] The third-largest Mega Millions jackpot worth $1.35 billion was won following the January 13, 2023 drawing, in which one winning ticket was sold in Maine.

The fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot worth $1.34 billion was won following the July 29, 2022, drawing, in which one winning ticket was sold in Illinois.

[24] The sixth-largest Mega Millions jackpot worth $1.13 billion was won following the March 26, 2024, drawing, in which one winning ticket was sold in New Jersey.

[32] Megaplier wagers made for drawings from September 12, 2010, through October 18, 2013, that won second prize (then $250,000) were automatically elevated to 4x, winning $1 million.

[45] In California, prize levels are paid on a parimutuel basis, rather than the fixed lower-tier amounts for winners in other Mega Millions jurisdictions.

New Jersey winners can change an annuity ticket to cash should they be eligible to claim a jackpot, but the choice is binding in Texas.

The other Mega Millions members allow the cash/annuity choice to be made after winning (usually 60 days after claiming the ticket), although in Florida, the 60-day "clock" starts with the drawing in which the jackpot prize was won.

Before the January 31, 2010, cross-sell expansion, Mega Millions was the only multi-jurisdictional lottery whose drawings were carried nationally, instead of airing only on stations in participating jurisdictions.

WGN served as a default carrier of both major games where no local television station carried either multi-jurisdictional lottery's drawings.

[57] In the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the legislature in Albany, fearing a monumental loss of revenue, passed legislation the following month, which was signed by Governor George Pataki, which included joining a multi-jurisdictional lottery game.

Except for the 2010 cross-selling expansion, this was the only time The Big Game or Mega Millions simultaneously added more than one member.

A letter bearing the Mega Millions logo was used in a string of lottery scams designed to trick people into providing personal financial information by cashing bogus checks.

The letter, which had been sent to people in several states via standard mail, included a check for what the scammers said was an unclaimed Mega Millions prize.

[70] A budget impasse due to the 2006 New Jersey Government shutdown led to the temporary closing of its non-essential agencies on July 1, 2006.

Elecia Battle made national headlines in January 2004 when she claimed that she had lost the winning ticket in the December 30, 2003, Mega Millions drawing.

As a result of this false report, she was fined $1,000, ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, and required to compensate the police and courts for various costs incurred.

One such usage involved character Hugo "Hurley" Reyes playing the sequence in a similar "Mega Lotto" game, winning a nine-figure jackpot and subsequently experiencing numerous misfortunes in his personal life.