The Mega Millions jackpot increases to 0 million – that’s how much a winner could take home after taxes
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The Mega Millions jackpot increases to $670 million – that’s how much a winner could take home after taxes

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

Topline

The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to $670 million – the fifth-largest lottery win of the year so far – after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night, although the eventual winner will take home a much smaller amount after paying their taxes .

Important facts

The six numbers drawn on Tuesday evening were 12, 14, 26, 48, 52 and the golden Mega Ball 21.

If a winner emerges in the next drawing, they can choose to receive the $670 million spread over 30 annual payments or a lump sum prize of $317.8 million – often the popular choice.

If this option is chosen, the lump sum payout drops to $241.5 million after a mandatory 24% federal tax withholding is applied.

The winner could then face a federal marginal tax rate of up to 37% depending on their taxable income, which would further reduce their winnings to $200.2 million.

If the winner chooses to pay in installments, their annual payments would drop from about $22.33 million to $14.1 million if the federal marginal interest rate of 37% is applied.

The winner may also have to pay additional taxes from their state of residence as some states such as New York tax lottery winnings at 10.9% while others such as Texas, Florida and California do not.

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What you should pay attention to

The next Mega Millions jackpot drawing is scheduled for Friday evening and is advertised by Mega Millions as a “Friday the 13th” drawing. The lottery game noted that the last major Friday the 13th jackpot winner came last year, when a ticket holder from Maine won the $1.348 billion prize on January 13, 2023 – the third-largest Mega Millions prize of all times.

Surprising fact

The eventual winner of the Mega Millions jackpot will have to overcome abysmal odds of 1 in 302.6 million, which is even worse than the Powerball jackpot’s already terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million.

Important background

In September, a single ticket holder from Texas won an $800 million Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest Mega Millions prize of the year so far. The biggest Mega Millions prize of the year was won in March by a single ticket holder in New Jersey, who won a jackpot of $1.13 billion.

Further reading

The Mega Millions jackpot tops $600 million – that’s how much the winner could take home after taxes (Forbes)

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