Topline
The Powerball jackpot rose to $810 million after no winning tickets were sold for Saturday night’s drawing, making the jackpot the fifth-largest prize in the Powerball’s history, though a winner would receive less than half of that total after paying taxes.
The jackpot is the fifth-largest Powerball prize ever.
Key Facts
Though no tickets won the $760 million prize in Saturday’s drawing, two tickets won $2 million prizes after they matched five white balls without the Powerball, and five tickets won $1 million.
If a single winning ticket is sold in the next Powerball drawing, the winner will have the option of receiving their winnings over 30 annual installments or as a cash lump sum of $408.9 million.
The more popular lump sum option would be reduced to $310.7 million after a 24% federal tax withholding, while a federal marginal rate as high as 37% —depending on the winner’s taxable income and tax deductions—would bring the earnings down to $257.6 million.
Some states also tax lottery winnings, with rates as low as 2.5% in Arizona to as high as 10.9% in New York, while other states—including California and Texas—don’t tax lottery winnings.
What To Watch For
The Powerball’s next drawing will be held Monday night.
Surprising Fact
The $810 million Powerball jackpot is the fifth-largest prize in the Powerball’s history, trailing four jackpots that swelled above $1 billion.
Big Number
$1.76 billion. That’s how large the jackpot reached on Oct. 11, when the Powerball was last won. That prize was the second-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.
Key Background
Some of the largest lottery prizes in U.S. history have been won over the last eight years, after both the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries increased the pool of white ball numbers players could choose from. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are one in 292.2 million, after decreasing from one in 175.2 million following a series of changes to the game’s formulas.
Further Reading
Powerball Soars To $760 Million: Here’s How Much The Winner Would Get After Taxes (Forbes)
Here Are The Top 10 Lottery Jackpots Of All Time—As Mega Millions Reaches $910 Million (Forbes)
Powerball Swells To $700 Million—Here’s Why There Have Been So Many Massive Jackpots Recently (Forbes)
