Even the Powerball payout is bigger in Texas.
Two lucky lotto players in Missouri and Texas will split the near-record $1.78 billion prize after Saturday’s drawing — but the Texas winner is set to come out on top by millions.
The massive payout — the second-largest in the 33-year history of Powerball — will be divvied up between the winners, who will each get approximately $893.5 million before taxes.
But, Texas does not impose a state income tax, which means the Lone Star State winner will walk away with a signficantly bigger payout.
Both winners will be walloped by the IRS’ automatic 24% withholding on big jackpots, in addition to 37% for federal taxes because the jackpot winners will fall into the highest income bracket, leaving them with a cool $258.5 million apiece after Uncle Sam gobbles his share.
However, Missouri then takes its own slice by way of a 4% state tax, leaving the winner in the winner in Texas up by around $16.4 million when all is said and done.
Saturday’s Powerball drawing ended with the first jackpot since May, following a streak of 42 consecutive drawings without anybody taking the top prize.
The lengthy stint still paid out plenty of prize money, including 101 winning tickets worth $1 million or more and over 1,000 paying at least $50,000, Powerball said.
We may never know the identities of the big winners — as state laws in Texas and Missouri both allow those who score a big jackpot to remain anonymous.
Missouri passed a law that took effect in 2021 that grants anonymity to lottery winners, and made it a Class A misdemeanor to reveal their names, addresses or any other identifying information.
Meanwhile in Texas, a 2017 law lets prize winners of prizes valued at $1 million or more opt to remain anonymous, putting Saturday’s drawing comfortably within that threshold.
Even though the names and faces of the jackpot winners may never be known, we’ll at least get to know where the tickets were purchased.
The winning ticket in Texas was sold at Big’s 103, a gas station convenience in Fredericksburg, about 70 miles from San Antonio to the south and just 35 miles northeast of Kerrville, which was hit by devastating flash flooding in July.
Manager Melanie Carter told NBC News they “would never have expected” to be the store that sold the winning ticket, having just opened in 2021.
“I do hope it was a local and I do hope it was somebody that needed it,” she told the outlet, a sentiment echoed by Carson McCoy, a customer from Kerrville who said the flood-ravaged area needs “all the help we can get over there.”
According to the Texas Lottery, Big’s 103 will be eligible for its own prize of up to $250,000 for selling one of the winning tickets.
For now, all we know is that the other winning ticket was sold somewhere in the Show Me State, the Missouri Lottery saying it will reveal the actual store location within 72 hours of the drawing, or by 10:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday.
The winners will be given the option between a lump-sum of approximately $410.3 million, or an annuitized prize totaling $893.5 million, paid out in 30 installments over 29 years.
The only Powerball payout higher than this weekend’s was a whopping $2.04 billion, which was awarded to a lone California lotto player in November, 2022.
Saturday’s winning numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61, 62 and Powerball 17.