The Mega Millions jackpot surged to $825 million—the fourth biggest lottery prize of the year so far—after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night, but the eventual winner will take home a much smaller amount after paying their taxes.
The Mega Millions jackpot prize surged to $825 million on Tuesday night.
The six numbers drawn on Tuesday night were 56, 66, 67, 68, 69 and the gold Mega Ball 18.
If a winner emerges in the next draw, they will get to pick between receiving the $825 million spread across 30 annual payments, or a lump sum cash payout of $382.2 million—usually the favored pick.
If chosen, the lump sum payout will drop to $290.5 million after a mandatory federal tax withholding of 24% is applied.
The winner could then face a federal marginal rate as high as 37%, depending on their taxable income for the year, further reducing their winnings to $240.8 million.
If the installment route is chosen, their annual payments of around $27.5 million could go down to $17.3 million, if a 37% federal marginal rate is applied.
Depending on their state of residence, the winner could face further taxes, as some states like New York tax lottery winnings at 10.9%, while others like Texas, Florida, and California place no levies on lottery wins.
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1-in-302.6 million. Those are the abysmal odds a ticket buyer must overcome to win the Mega Millions jackpot. This is even worse than the already astronomical 1-in-292.2 million odds of the Powerball lottery.
The next drawing for the Mega Millions jackpot is scheduled for Friday night.