DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Mega Millions players will get slightly better odds and should start seeing more billion-dollar jackpots, but at a cost — literally — with tickets for the multistate lottery jumping in price to $5.

The price for playing Mega Millions more than doubled for drawings starting with Tuesday’s, but lottery officials are betting that the swollen jackpots they’re expecting will catch the public’s attention and lead to an accompanying surge in sales

“People really want big jackpots,” said Joshua Johnston, the Washington state lottery director who heads the Mega Millions game. “We expect to see a sales lift on this.”

How is Mega Millions changing?

The biggest change is the ticket price hike from $2 to $5. Lottery officials expect that jump to increase revenue from the twice-weekly game, enabling them to improve the odds of winning the jackpot from 1 in 303 million to 1 in 290 million.

The higher ticket price also means the jackpot can start at $50 million, rather than the previous $20 million, and that the grand prize is expected to grow more quickly. Each time there isn’t a big winner, the jackpot will jump by a larger amount. Officials expect it will more frequently top the $1 billion threshold that draws extra attention — and bigger sales.

Under the new rules, prizes for tickets not matching all six numbers also will increase, with non-jackpot winners now guaranteed at least $10. Each ticket also will include a randomly assigned multiplier that can increase the prize by up to 10 times, a previous add-on feature that cost an extra $1. The multiplier doesn’t apply to a jackpot.

Why is the game changing?

The new rules have two main goals: to address what the industry calls “jackpot fatigue” and to differentiate Mega Millions from Powerball, the other lottery draw game played across the country.

Jackpot fatigue is the phenomenon under which prizes must grow to enormous amounts before most players will take note and buy a few tickets. These days, a $300 million prize that once drew lines at mini-marts barely registers.

With the new rules, officials expect those average winning jackpots to climb from about $450 million to $800 million, Johnston said. And they believe that even lottery fatigue is no match for the more frequent billion-dollar prize.

“When you get to a billion people are like, ‘Whoa, that’s a whole lot of money,’” Johnston said.

Lottery officials said there is a clear correlation between bigger jackpots and higher sales, but not everyone who plays is swayed by the bigger pots.

Sandie Yeaman, of Omaha, Nebraska, expressed puzzlement at the connection.

“I’d be satisfied with $1 million, and so would others,” she said. “One person winning $50 million is ridiculous.”

How rare is a $5 ticket price?

Mega Millions will be the country’s most expensive lottery draw game, where random numbers are selected to determine a winner.

Still, that price is far less than scratch tickets offered by some states. In Texas, for example, some scratch tickets cost $100 each.

Outside the U.S., the El Gordo Christmas lottery in Spain limits the number of tickets sold and charges 20 euros (nearly $22) for a partial ticket and 200 euros (nearly $220) for a full ticket.

The higher Mega Millions price left Saeedith Williams, of East Point, Georgia, unsure if he’ll keep buying several tickets per week. “Maybe I’ll buy one ticket a week now that it’s $5 a ticket,” he said.

What about Powerball?

After the new rules are implemented, the two lottery games that once were remarkably similar now will have some key differences.

The biggest contrast will be the cost, as Powerball will stick with its $2 tickets — $3 in Idaho and Montana where they require a special prize bundle.

With that smaller ticket price will come smaller minimal prizes, starting at $4, or less than half the lowest Mega Millions prize. But Powerball players will still be able to pay an extra dollar for “Power Play,” a random multiplier that, as in Mega Millions, can increase all but the grand prize.

Powerball drawings will continue to be three times a week — Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights — while Mega Millions will hold drawings on Tuesday and Friday.

The changes will bring the two games’ jackpot odds a little closer, with Powerball jackpot odds of 1 in 292.2 million just a bit worse than the new Mega Millions odds.

Remind me, what’s the point of all this?

For players, it’s a chance to spend a little money on a dream of incredible riches while acknowledging the reality that it almost certainly won’t happen.

For the 45 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands where Mega Millions is played, the game raises money for a variety of services, such as education scholarships. Local lottery agencies run the game in each jurisdiction and decisions about how the profits are divvied up are written into state law.

LAKE BUTLER, Fla. (AP) — Jay North, who starred as the towheaded mischief maker on TV’s “Dennis the Menace” for four seasons starting in 1959, has died. He was 73.

North died Sunday at his home in Lake Butler, Florida, after battling colon cancer, said Laurie Jacobson, a longtime friend, and Bonnie Vent, who was his booking agent.

“He had a heart as big as a mountain, loved his friends deeply. He called us frequently and ended every conversation with ‘I love you with all my heart,’” Jacobson wrote in a tribute on Facebook.

North was 6 when he was cast as the smiling troublemaker in the CBS sitcom adaptation of Hank Ketcham’s popular comic strip that took place in an idyllic American suburb.

Often wearing a striped shirt and overalls, Dennis’ mischievous antics frequently frustrated his retired next-door neighbor George Wilson, played by Joseph Kearns. Dennis’ patient parents were played by Herbert Anderson and Gloria Henry.

The show ran on Sunday nights until it was canceled in 1963. After that it was a fixture for decades in syndication.

Later, North appeared on TV in shows including “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” “The Lucy Show,” “My Three Sons,” “Lassie” and “The Simpsons,” and in movies like “Maya” (1966), “The Teacher” (1974) and “Dickie Robert: Former Child Star” (2003).

North is survived by his third wife, Cindy, and three stepdaughters.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Creating and sharing deceptive media made with artificial intelligence is now a crime in New Jersey and open to lawsuits under a new state law.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation Wednesday making the creation and dissemination of so-called deceptive deepfake media a crime punishable by up to five years in prison, and establishing a basis for lawsuits against perpetrators.

New Jersey joins a growing list of states enacting measures taking aim at media created using generative AI. At least 20 states have passed similar legislation that targets such media involving elections.

As of last year, governors in more than a dozen states had signed laws cracking down on digitally created or altered child sexual abuse imagery, according to a review by The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

New Jersey’s law stems in part from the story of Westfield High School student Francesca Mani, who stood alongside the governor as he signed the bill this week. Mani said she became the victim of a deepfake video two years ago and was told that the only punishment for the person who created it was a short suspension because there were no laws against such media.

“Doing nothing is no longer an option,” said Mani, who pushed for the legislation and was recognized by Time last year as an anti-deepfake activist.

The measure defines a deepfake as any video or audio recording or image that appears to a reasonable person to realistically depict someone doing something they did not actually do.

In addition to prison time upon conviction, the law establishes civil penalties that would permit victims to pursue lawsuits.