(CNN) — Whether or not anyone wins the billion-dollar Powerball jackpot on Saturday, at least one of the losers might already be known: Mega Millions.

Powerball tickets, priced at $2 apiece, are selling briskly, as lottery tickets tend to do around ten-figured advertised prizes. In contrast, the next Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday is a comparatively paltry $80 million.

The two jackpots might differ by hundreds of millions — but the number that helps explain why is much smaller.

Three dollars. That’s how much Mega Millions hiked its ticket price in April, more than doubling from $2 to $5.

And it looks like lottery ticket buyers, at least, really care about that difference – especially in an economy where Americans, weary of the high cost of living, are holding onto every dollar.

Meg

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