The Powerball jackpot has soared to an estimated $1.04 billion after no tickets matched all six numbers in Saturday night’s drawing.
Saturday night’s drawing produced white balls 19, 30, 37, 44 and 46 and red Powerball 22.
The $1.04 billion prize – an estimated $478.2 million in cash value – is the second-largest jackpot this year, topped only by a $1.08 billion prize won on July 19 by a ticketholder in California.
If I win I’ll give everyone in this thread a million dollars.
So, if there’s 60 people in the thread, everyone gets $16,667
I see you all fell for my cunning ruse. Definitely not something I figured out after I posted. Not at all.
I mean 16k~ is still a decent amount of money
Neat.
Oooh oooh oooh! Me too! Me too!
I mean, sure, why not?
😆 The last lottery ticket I bought was 38 years ago. I regreted throwing away a dollar it’s too traumatic.
So are PowerBall and Mega Millions now rigged to make sure that the jackpot always hits $1B before a winner is drawn?
I imagine their sales go up fast when so-called “news” outlets (like this community) report that it’s hit that level.
Never mind that it makes your already infinitesimal odds of winning even smaller, when the regular jackpot would already be a life-changing amount of money. People who only buy tickets when the jackpot goes up are just falling even harder for the scam than those who buy when the jackpot is “low”.
The expected value of a ticket goes up. At some point it’s higher than the cost of the ticket.
I’m not American, please explain, why is the cash value only 478.2 million? Is that after taxes or something?
It’s not after taxes.
The “jackpot” is what you get if you select an annual annuity over 30 years.
The cash value is what you get if you want it all today.
Taxes come after.
This site explains it well: https://www.usamega.com/powerball/jackpot
Yes. They withhold taxes, and at that point it’s all in the highest bracket, and you haven’t had the cash to get a bunch of credits and deductions.
Some lotteries offer an annuity style payout, over 20 years. This can reduce the tax implications over the whole life, but inflation and not having the money invested can eat it up.
It’s a trade off that would be great to have to worry about.
Hurry up chucklefucks, get out there and pay your stupid tax! Bonus points for holding up the line, during the afternoon rush, at an already busy gas station.
