• New Jersey Mega Millions player takes home $4m
• The change to the game's rules increased the win from the standard $1m to the life-changing $4m
• Lottery players can benefit from better odds, higher payouts and increased jackpot reset sum

This spring, Mega Millions introduced changes to its rules, improving the game format by delivering better odds and higher prizes.

On Friday, when the latest game drawing was held, one lucky player from Bergen County in New Jersey won a life-changing $4m prize.

Under the previous rules, the player would've won only $1m, but thanks to the changes, the payout increased to $4m.

The new rules of the popular game increased the lucky player's payout to $4m

Mega Millions winning numbers on Friday were 26, 49, 58, 61 and 63, while the Mega Ball number was 09.

Matching correctly all white balls, the lucky player who purchased their ticket at 7-Eleven on 1 Kinderkamack Road in Montvale, secured a tier-two prize.

The base prize for matching five winning numbers is $1m, however, under the new rules, the player was automatically entered into a multiplier game.

As a result, on Friday, the player hit a 4X multiplier and saw their prize increase to $4m.

Previously, Mega Millions players had to pay extra for the multiplier option, which enabled them to benefit from a random multiplier that changes on each drawing.

Had the player matched correctly the Mega Ball on Friday too, they would've won the game's top prize for a mind-boggling win of more than $300m.

Still, the $4m win is undoubtedly life-changing and it is in fact the biggest prize from Mega Millions won in New Jersey since the game's rules changed this April.

Mega Millions' overhaul brings more prizes and better odds

Since the format of Mega Millions changed in April, the amount of non-jackpot prizes won by players has increased by more than four times.

Between April and June, lottery players won more than $112m in non-jackpot prizes under the new rules.

In contrast, those non-jackpot prizes, under the game's previous rules, would've been only $25m.

Besides growing non-jackpot prizes, Mega Millions improved the overall odds of winning any prize and the odds of winning the jackpot by removing one gold Mega Ball.

Previously, the game offered odds of winning any prize of 1 in 24, but that has improved to 1 in 23 since April.

On the other hand, under the old Mega Millions rules, the odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 302.5m. Those odds have improved to 1 in 290.4m under the changes in April.

In addition to better odds and higher non-jackpot prizes, Mega Millions increased the starting sum for its jackpot prize.

Per the old rules, the jackpot started to grow from $20m, while under the new rules, it resets to $50m.

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