The Mega Millions jackpot rose to $579 million—the fifth biggest jackpot prize of the year so far—after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night, although the winner will take home a much smaller payout after paying their taxes.
The Mega Millions jackpot hit $579 million after Tuesday night's draw.
If a winner emerges in the next draw, they can choose between receiving the $579 million jackpot spread over 30 annual payments or a lump sum cash prize of $276.6 million—often the popular choice.
If chosen, the lump sum payout will drop to $210.2 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, further slashing their winnings to $174.26 million.
If the winner chooses the installment route, their annual payments of around $19.3 million would drop to $12.16 million, if the 37% federal marginal rate is applied.
The winner may also face additional taxes from their state of residence, as some states like New York tax lottery winnings at 10.9%, while others like Texas, Florida, and California don’t.
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The next drawing for the Mega Millions jackpot is scheduled for Friday night.
1-in-302.6 million. Those are the extremely poor odds a ticket buyer has to overcome to win the Mega Millions jackpot. This is even worse than the Powerball jackpot’s already astronomical odds of 1-in-292.2 million.
In September a single ticketholder from Texas won a $800 million Mega Millions jackpot, the second biggest Mega Millions prize of the year so far. The biggest Mega Millions prize of the year was claimed in March, by a single ticketholder in New Jersey who won won a $1.13 billion jackpot. The biggest overall lottery prize of the year, however, was awarded in April when a single ticket sold in Oregon won a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot. The winner was eventually identified as Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, a Portland resident undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer. Saephan said he was splitting the prize with his friend Laiza Chao as the two had pooled money together to buy the lottery tickets.