Winner winner chicken dinner! You just won the lottery, but do you know what to do next? Here’s what to know before you cash out.
An estimated $1.09 billion Powerball jackpot, which ranks as the 9th largest in U.S. lottery history, is up for grabs Wednesday night.
Here are Wednesday's winning numbers: 11, 62, 65, 38, 41, 15. The PowerPlay was 3x.
The Powerball jackpot has been growing for more than three months, reflecting the long odds of 1 in 292.2 million of winning the top prize. Since the last player won the jackpot on Jan. 1, there have been 39 consecutive drawings without anyone matching all six numbers and hitting it rich.
Lottery officials note that thousands of people have won smaller prizes, which range from $2 to $2 million.
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The drawing comes one week after a person in New Jersey beat the odds and won the $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot.
The $1.09 billion prize is for a sole winner who chooses to be paid through an annuity, with 30 annual payments. Winners almost always prefer the cash option, which for Wednesday's drawing would be an estimated $527.3 million.
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The prize is subject to taxes, which includes an automatic withholding tax of 24% levied against the winnings, and another 13% in federal taxes when you file your 2024 return.
There are also state taxes in some jurisdictions, which range from 2.9% to 10.9% depending on the state you live in. But if you're lucky enough to live in California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington or Wyoming, you won't pay taxes on your winnings.
Powerball is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are held at 10:59 p.m. EST at the Florida Lottery studio in Tallahassee.
Has it become harder to win?
Yes, both the Powerball and Mega Millions lotteries have become more difficult. The Powerball lottery lengthened the odds of winning the top prize from 1 in 175.2 million to the current 1 in 292.2 million in 2015, according to The Associated Press. Mega Millions went from 1 in 258.9 million to 1 in 302.6 million two years later.
Why are lottery jackpots so big lately?
The jackpots grew because as the lotteries added to the pool of numbers players could pick from, it became more improbable to hit one, Kapoor said. The result has been the largest lottery jackpots in American history over the last 10 years. And as the jackpots grow, even more people buy tickets.
But as with other things, lottery ticket sales are cyclical, fluctuating with the economy and recessions.
