That’s a lotto greenbacks!
Monday night’s Powerball drawing is one for the record books: the jackpot climbed to the $1 billion mark for just the fifth time in its history.
Powerball has been on a dry spell for most of the year, going 38 consecutive drawings without a winner. No one has taken the big prize since Jan. 1, when a winning ticket worth $842.4 million was sold in Michigan.
If Monday night’s drawing ends with a winner, the lucky so-and-so will have two choices how they get their loot, a single lump-sum payment — estimated at $438.8 million — or an annuity starting with an immediate payment followed by annual payments for 29 years, increasing by 5% each year.
Both of those payouts are before taxes, mind you. And New York is notoriously one of the worst states to live in if you score a big lotto win.
In addition to the 24% federal withholding every lottery prize is subject to, New York State claims a hefty 10.90% chunk of its own.
New York City then takes a piece of the action, withholding 3.876% on top of state and federal tax.
If you live in Yonkers, you’ll pay an additional 1.82575% in Yonkers withholding tax (yes, really.)
According to NerdWallet’s lottery tax calculator, if a New Yorker wins Monday night’s big jackpot and opts for the lump-sum payment, they’ll wind up with just under $295 million after taxes, having paid over $105 million in federal tax and $38.7 million to the Empire State.
Last April, Johnnie Taylor, 71, a handyman from Howard Beach, became New York State’s biggest lottery winner ever, taking home an eye-watering $476 million Mega Millions jackpot.
Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, the overall odds of winning any Powerball prize is 1 in 24.9.
The odds of winning the jackpot are a lofty 1 in 292.2 million.
Monday’s drawing is at 10:59 p.m. EST.