Powerball Jackpot Passes $1 Billion—Here’s What The Winner Will Take Home After Taxes

Topline

The Powerball jackpot reached $1.04 billion—the fourth largest in the history of the game and second largest this year—after no tickets aligned with the six numbers drawn on Saturday night, but the prize a potential winner will take home is significantly smaller.

Monday’s Powerball drawing is for $1.04 billion — the fourth largest Powerball jackpot in history … [+] and second largest this year. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

If the next draw produces a winning ticket, the winner will have their choice between a $1.04 billion payout over 30 years or a lump sum payment estimated at $478.2 million.

A 24% federal tax withholding is taken right away, dropping the lump sum estimate to about $363.4 million.

Because the federal government counts lottery winnings as income, the winner could be moved into a tax bracket facing a tax rate as high as 37%, which could drop the lump sum to around $301.3 million.

If someone wins this round and chooses to receive the winnings in installments, the average annual payments of around $34.67 million could drop as low as $21.8 million if the 37% top federal marginal rate is applied.

State taxes will also play a role in the final take-home amount: Some states like New York tax lottery winnings at 10.9%, while others like Texas and Florida don’t tax them.

What To Watch For

The next drawing will take place Monday night.

Big Number

32. That’s how many consecutive drawings there have been without a grand prize winner, according to Powerball. The last Powerball jackpot—which was $1.08 billion—was won on July 19, marking the sixth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

Surprising Fact

Though the odds of winning a prize in Powerball aren’t horrible—1-in-24.9—the odds of winning this Powerball jackpot are not great, at 1-in-292.2 million. Both the Powerball and Mega Millions have worsened the odds of winning a jackpot, leading to larger prizes as it often takes weeks or months to select a winning ticket.

Tangent

Though no one took home the jackpot in Saturday’s drawing, there were a handful of winners—more than 2.5 million, actually. Five tickets won $1 million prizes, and two other tickets won $2 million. Earlier in the week, 55 tickets won $50,000 prizes.