Mega Millions New York Guide: How To Play, Cutoff Time, & Where to Get Tickets

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Mega Millions is expected to have a jackpot worth at least $1.6 billion on Tuesday night, October 23. Here’s a quick guide to everything you need to know if you’re playing in New York.

Where to buy tickets: You can visit the New York lottery website to find a retailer by City or ZIP here.

Can you buy tickets online? You can buy a subscription on New York’s Lottery site here. You’ll need to create a subscription account, choose which game, and then choose the number of games or drawings. Then choose your numbers or Quick Pick, and pay for your transaction. The minimum subscription length is two weeks.

When is the drawing? In New York, the drawing takes place at 11 p.m. Eastern every Tuesday and Friday night.

How late are tickets sold? Ticket sales stop at 10:45 p.m. on draw nights, and 3:30 a.m. other days.

What do you take home after taxes? If you win, you’ll have to deal with federal and state taxes. After federal taxes, you’ll lose about 24 percent of your gross prize, as calculated by USA Mega. But New York state taxes are 8.82 percent. If you do an annual annuity, you’ll get about $22.393 million a year. For the cash option, you’ll have a lump sum of about $379.970 million. That’s a lot less than $1 billion.

How do you watch the drawing? If you want to watch the drawing on TV in New York, see the list below from LotteryUniverse and New York’s lottery website. These stations aren’t guaranteed, but have broadcast the drawings in the past.

• Albany – WALB ABC-10
• Buffalo: WUTV 29
• Binghamton – WBNG-12
• Capital Region: WRGB 6 or CW 15
• East Syracuse: WSYR-TV
• Elmira: WETM 18
• Johnson City: WBNG-TV
• New York – ABC-7
• Plattsburgh – WPTZ-5
• Rochester – WHAM-13
• Syracuse – WSTM 3 or WTVH 5
• Utica: WUTR 20
• Watertown: WSTM 3 or WTVH 5

You can also check out Heavy’s live stream.

Where is the New York Lottery website? The NY lottery website is here.

How do you play? You can play just by purchasing a $2 ticket. To play, pick five numbers from 1 to 70 and a Mega ball number from 1 to 25. You can also pick a Megaplier for $1 more, which can increase your wins. You’ll have the choice of either picking your own numbers or doing a “quick pick” where the numbers are picked for you at random.

• In order to win the jackpot, you’d need to match all five white balls and the yellow Mega ball.
• If you match all five white numbers only, you’ll win $1 million (and more if you’re using a Mega plier option.)
• If you match 4 white and the yellow, you’ll win $10,000.
• If you match 4 white only, you’ll win $500.
• If you match 3 white and 1 yellow, you’ll win $200.
• If you match 3 white only or if you match 2 white and 1 yellow, you’ll win $10.
• If you match a yellow ball and a white ball during tonight’s drawing, then you will walk away with $4. That’s enough to buy yourself two more tickets for $2 each in the next jackpot. But if you only match two white balls and don’t match the yellow ball, you won’t win anything.
• If you match one yellow ball (which is the last number drawn), then you’ll win $2. But if you only match one white number, then you also won’t win anything tonight.