As we have mentioned a few months back, the multi state Powerball game will change a lot at the start of 2012. As the lottery tickets prices will double from $1 to $2, Louisiana State Lottery officials are looking for new ways to increase their revenue. And their solution might be the other incredibly famous multi state lottery game, Mega Millions. At the moment, Mega Millions is played in 41 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. Unlike Powerball, Mega Millions will stay the same and ticket prices will remain fixed at $1. State lottery

Last year, the game was introduced in 23 new states. The game is played twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays and the players must choose 5 numbers from a pool of 1 to 56 and a Mega Ball from a pool of 1 to 46 to win the big jackpot. At that time, the people in charge of the Louisiana State Lottery postponed bringing in the game, instead choosing to “study the prospect, and that’s what we’ve been doing,” according to Rose Hudson, the president of the Louisiana Lottery Corporation. Lotteries

“The striking similarity between the two games, the saturated gaming market in Louisiana, weighed against the operational cost of launching and maintaining a new draw-style game, we are not confident that enough players would play Mega Millions on a regular basis in addition to what they already play,” Kimberly Chopin, a spokesperson for the Louisiana State Lottery, stated in January, 2010. Mega lottery

However, that will soon change. Kimberly Hudson believes the time has come to add Mega Millions because the state wants to keep a $1 multi state game, and Powerball will not meet those demands anymore. Also, experts from the state lottery said they believe sales could be boosted by as much as $8.5 million. However, that’s just an estimate and nobody really knows how Mega Millions will be received by the population. The same experts also believe Powerball will retain its popularity as the starting jackpot will also double along with the ticket price. At the moment, the starting Powerball jackpot is $20 million and it will be increased to $40 million. Powerball lottery

“That’s the exciting thing for us,” Hudson stated. “By expanding the portfolio, for us to go to Mega Millions, we will still have a $1 jackpot game that we will be able to offer our players.”