Topline
The Powerball jackpot rose to $1.7 billion—the third biggest lottery prize of all time—after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Wednesday night, although the eventual winner will likely take home a much smaller payout after accounting for taxes and other cuts.
The six numbers drawn on Monday night were 3, 16, 29, 61, 69 and red Powerball 22.
If a winner emerges in the next draw, they will have to choose between taking the $1.7 billion prize spread over 30 annualized payments or a lump-sum cash prize of $770.3 million.
If the lump sum payment is chosen, the winnings will drop to around $585.4 million after a mandatory federal withholding of 24% is applied.
Depending on their taxable income, the winner could face a federal marginal rate as high as 37%, which would further reduce their winnings to $485.3 million.
If the winner chooses the installment route, their annual payments of around $56.6 million would drop to $35.6 million if the 37% federal marginal rate is applied.
The winner may also face additional taxes based on their state of residence, as some, such as New York, tax lottery winnings at a rate of 10.9%, while others, including Texas, Florida, and California, don’t.
The next draw for the Powerball jackpot will take place on Saturday night, and if a winner fails to emerge once again, the jackpot prize will likely eclipse the biggest one of 2024. The next drawing for the Mega Millions lottery is scheduled for Friday, and the current jackpot amount stands at $336 million.
The eventual winner of the Powerball will claim the biggest lottery prize since October 2023, when a ticket buyer from California won a $1.765 billion jackpot. So far the biggest lottery prize won this year was a $526.5 million Powerball jackpot won by a ticket buyer from California in March. The biggest ever lottery prize was a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot, also won by a person from California back in November 2022.
To win the big prize, a Powerball ticket buyer will have to overcome astronomical odds of 1 in 292.2 million. This is slightly worse than the Mega Millions jackpot, which has odds of 1 in 290.4 million. The Mega Millions used to have even worse odds than the Powerball lottery, but the competition implemented significant changes earlier this year that slightly improved the odds of winning both the jackpot and smaller prizes.
Powerball Jackpot Hits $1.3 Billion After Labor Day Drawing—Here’s What The Winner Could Take Home (Forbes)