How to Play Mega Ball: Rules, Payouts and RTP Explained

Mega Ball is a live game show in which you buy 5×5 bingo cards and win according to how many lines each card completes.

A card that completes a line with the last ball drawn receives a multiplier of up to 100x, and the maximum win is 1,000,000x. Payouts are capped at $500,000 (or the equivalent in your currency), however.

What You Will Learn

• Mega Ball is a live game show from Evolution.
• Multipliers of up to 100x are the key to big wins.

This article takes about 8 minutes to read.

Mega Ball Rules

Mega Ball is a live game show from Evolution in which you buy 1–400 bingo cards per game.

Like a standard US-style bingo card, each card has numbers arranged in a 5×5 grid, and the center square is a free space. The numbers on each card are chosen at random from 1 to 51.

When the number on a drawn ball matches a number on your card, that square is marked. Completing a line vertically, horizontally or diagonally (a bingo) wins a payout.

The round does not end when one line is complete. The more lines a card completes, the higher its payout.

In addition, any card that completes a line with the 21st and final ball, the Mega Ball, has its payout multiplied by a multiplier between 5x and 100x.

The draw is explained step by step in “How to Play Mega Ball” below.

How Mega Ball Differs from Bingo

• In traditional hall bingo, you compete against the other players. The first player to complete a bingo wins the prize, and the game ends there.
• In Mega Ball, the game runs regardless of other players’ results. Every player who completes a line is paid, and players never compete with one another for payouts.

Because players do not compete for payouts, a defining feature of Mega Ball is that every winning player is paid in full, regardless of what other players win.

How to Play Mega Ball

Once you have bought your bingo cards, the draw runs automatically, so there is very little for you to do during a round.

STEP1

Buy Your Bingo Cards

You can buy bingo cards while betting is open.

Each card costs between $0.10 and $100, and you can buy anywhere from 1 to 400 cards at once. All cards in a round must be bought at the same price. Your total bet is the price per card multiplied by the number of cards.

While betting is open, you can also press the refresh button to change the numbers on your cards.

STEP2

20 Balls Are Drawn

When betting closes, the drawing machine starts selecting balls. If the number on a drawn ball appears on one of your cards, that square is marked.

Squares are marked automatically, so you do not need to do anything yourself.

STEP3

The Multiplier and the Mega Ball Are Drawn

After the 20th ball, a multiplier is drawn. It applies only to cards that complete a line with the 21st ball, the Mega Ball.

Once the multiplier has been drawn, the drawing machine selects the Mega Ball.

STEP4

Payouts Are Made

Each card is paid according to the number of lines it has completed. The amount returned is the price per card x the multiplier for the number of lines x the drawn multiplier (applied only if the Mega Ball completes a line). The next round then begins. The multipliers for each number of lines are explained in “Mega Ball Payouts” below.

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Mega Ball Payouts

Mega Ball draws 21 of the 51 numbers, yet the probability that a single card completes at least one line is only about 15%. A one-line bingo also pays just 1x, which simply returns your stake. Payouts become larger only when a card completes two, three or more lines.

Note: All multipliers are the total returned, including your stake (1 line at 1x returns your stake).

The top payout is 10,000x for six or more lines.

In addition, if the 21st ball, the Mega Ball, completes a line, that card’s payout is multiplied by a multiplier between 5x and 100x. The multiplier applies only to cards on which the Mega Ball completes a line.

What It Takes to Hit the 1,000,000x Max Win (Capped at $500,000)

• Six or more lines completed on the same card (10,000x)
• A 100x multiplier drawn with the Mega Ball

Meeting both conditions wins 1,000,000x.

The chance of this is extremely slim. Six or more lines requires nearly all of the 21 numbers drawn to appear on a single card.

According to the game-tracking site Tracksino, the 100x multiplier has appeared less than 1% of the time. These statistics are a record of past results. The multiplier is drawn anew every round, so past results do not change the probability of the next one.

To date, no 1,000,000x win has been recorded.

Mega Ball Return to Player (RTP)

Mega Ball has an RTP of 95.05%–95.40%. Because the game offers the chance of very high multipliers, its RTP is lower than that of table games such as baccarat. Either way, an RTP below 100% means you lose money in the long run; the house edge is always present.

Deciding when to stop playing does not change the expected value of each round. Even so, setting in advance how much you will spend and the point at which you will stop is an effective way to avoid unnecessary losses.

Mega Ball payouts are also capped.

You choose the price per card, but if you pay more than $0.50 per card, a 1,000,000x win is capped at $500,000.

If you want to make sure a 1,000,000x win is not reduced by the payout cap, keep your price per card at $0.50 or less.

How to Buy Mega Ball Cards

Playing Mega Ball feels much like buying lottery tickets. Even when you spend the same total amount, how much you pay per card and how many cards you buy greatly change how large and how frequent your payouts are.

For Smaller Swings: Lower the Price per Card and Buy More Cards

If you want to keep the swings in your results small, one approach is to buy many bingo cards at a low price. For example, if you bet $10 on a round and set the price per card at $0.10, you can buy 100 cards.

You can buy up to 400 bingo cards per round. The more cards you buy, the greater the chance that one completes multiple lines.

The probability that any single card completes three or more lines is very small, but buying more cards gives you more chances for one of them to complete multiple lines.

For example, if one of your 100 cards completes three lines (50x) and a 10x multiplier is applied, that card returns 500 times the price per card. At $0.10 per card, that is $50, which is more than your total bet of $10 for the round.

Because each card pays less, large wins are harder to achieve, but you get smaller swings in your results from round to round.

For Bigger Payouts: Raise the Price per Card and Buy Fewer Cards

Players aiming for large payouts can instead pay more per card and buy fewer cards. For example, if you bet $10 on a round and buy two cards, each card is a $5 bet.

Payouts are calculated by multiplying the price per card by the applicable multiplier, so the higher the price per card, the larger the payout when a card wins.

For example, if a card completes three lines (50x) and a 10x multiplier is applied, a $5 card returns $5 x 50 x 10 = $2,500.

Each win pays more, but with fewer cards you win less often, and runs of rounds with no payout at all are common. This approach only widens the swings in your results; it does not change the expected value per dollar bet.

Also keep in mind that if your price per card is above $0.50, even the 1,000,000x top multiplier is limited by the $500,000 payout cap.

Betting After a Run of Low Multipliers Does Not Improve Your Odds

Some guides recommend betting when only low multipliers have appeared for a while, on the grounds that a high multiplier must be due soon.

In Mega Ball, the drawing machine draws the balls and the multipliers independently every round. Each draw is an independent event, and past multipliers have no effect on the next draw.

A run of low multipliers does not make a high multiplier more likely. A 100x multiplier in the previous round does not change the chance of another 100x in the next one either. Past results cannot be used to predict the next outcome.

The Tracksino statistics mentioned above show that multipliers of 50x or higher appear 2%–3% of the time, and the 100x multiplier less than 1% of the time. These multipliers are rare to begin with, and there is no way to time your bets to catch them.

Summary: How You Buy Mega Ball Cards Changes the Swings in Payouts

Mega Ball is Evolution’s live game show built on the classic game of bingo.

You join a round by buying bingo cards. Twenty-one balls are drawn, and each line your cards complete adds to your payout.

If a card completes a line with the final ball, a multiplier of up to 100x is applied to its payout.

The max win is 1,000,000x, one of the highest multipliers among live game shows. Payouts are capped at $500,000, however, so depending on your bet, a win may be reduced to the cap.

You can raise the price per card to aim for larger payouts, or keep the price low and buy more cards for more chances to win, depending on your bankroll and preferences.

Its flexible card pricing makes it suitable for both casual players and high rollers.