They say you have a better chance of picking 30 winners on a ticket than winning the Powerball jackpot.
Advertisement
Lottery officials typically advise large jackpot winners to contact attorneys and tax experts before cashing in a ticket, because tax policies vary by state, and consider strategies for setting up trusts and managing investments.
If you legally purchase a Powerball ticket, then you can collect your prize, regardless of whether you’re an American citizen or not.
With Saturday evening drawing near, it seems more and more people are snatching up Powerball tickets, as the jackpot has grown to $800 million in just one day. There’s even an outside shot it gets to that point before Saturday night’s drawing.
The drawing will be broadcast live Saturday night at 10:59 local time from Tallahassee, Florida.
The odds of winning are one in 292.2m, which compares to one in 960,000 for being hit by lightening.
Tonight’s record-breaking $800 million Powerball jackpot is the stuff of dreams … daydreams with little chance of coming true, of course.
“If I win it I’m going to buy a new set of race horses and hopefully buy a Kentucky Derby Winner”, Clyde Yamada said. The jackpot can be paid out annually over the next 29 years or a cash lump sum prize of $496 million.
The jackpot for the twice-weekly game started at $40 million on November 4 and has been growing ever since. That means, one economist says, that a New Yorker could pay $44 million more in taxes than a Californian.
If you win and take the lump-sum payment, you can expect to take home about $321 million after taxes.
“I’ll quit my job”, he said.
The previous largest lottery prize was a Mega Millions jackpot of $656 million in 2012.
Hernandez said the 500 tickets she sold Friday morning are more than twice the number normally sold by the locally owned gas station at 2825 Gordon Drive. State governments may also collect tax on Lottery winnings.
Advertisement
Alex and Stephanie were buying their tickets, hoping to win the big prize.
