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.

  • bloopernova@programming.dev
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    9 months ago

    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.

  • DadWagonDriver@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    So are PowerBall and Mega Millions now rigged to make sure that the jackpot always hits $1B before a winner is drawn?

    • CeruleanRuin@lemmings.world
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      9 months ago

      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”.

      • evatronic@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        The odds of winning don’t change based on the number of people who buy tickets.

      • Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        The odds of winning are always the same, so why are the ones buying tickets less often falling for the scam harder? It’s dumb too, but conceptually speaking it’s a better return on investment if you win somehow.

      • canni@lemmy.one
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        9 months ago

        The expected value of a ticket goes up. At some point it’s higher than the cost of the ticket.

  • PixTupy@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    I’m not American, please explain, why is the cash value only 478.2 million? Is that after taxes or something?

    • bloopernova@programming.dev
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      9 months ago

      2 things: taxes are taken from the winnings, and the jackpot quoted is the amount you would get if you picked the regular payments rather than lump sum.

      The regular payments include trust fund interest/growth I think, so you get more.

      It’s confusing as all hell. I’d much prefer it tax free and lump sum. Tell me exactly what I get, don’t dress it up to make it look better than it is!

      • gregorum@lemm.ee
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        9 months ago

        The tax-free annuity payment version is by far the better deal. But some people elect to get the lump sum in cash, and you end up getting far less than half of it, esp after taxes.

        • Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          The annuity isn’t tax free. You pay taxes on that income every year just like (and in addition to) any other income you have.

          Also, you could most likely beat the rate of return on those investments if you know what you’re doing. But on the other hand most lottery winners won’t know what they’re doing. Additionally the annuity can be a stopgap to keep you from losing everything all at once.

          • Ryumast3r@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Even if you know what you’re doing, you’ll probably go bankrupt after winning. Annuity is, as you said, a stopgap against stupidity.

          • gregorum@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            The taxes a far far less, though, and the total sum is far greater.

            As for the rest, that’s all speculation. None of that is guaranteed. That annuity is guaranteed.

            • Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              The taxes are far less on a yearly basis, but over the course of the annuity you’ll actually pay a lot more in taxes. Rough calculation, if I won this jackpot it would break down to:

              • Lump sum: Immediate payment of $478.2M with a tax bill of around $210M for my state and Federal income taxes. Net payout of $267.8M.

              • Annuity: $1.04B paid over 30 years. At current tax rates that’s a bill of $456.5M over that 30 years. Net payout of around $583.5M. If tax rates change during the term of the annuity those could rise or fall a bit.

              Not like I’ll ever have to worry about the problem,but I think I would take the annuity because I’ve never had to manage a large amount of money, and it more gently eases you into it while giving some buffer to assure you don’t somehow blow through everything quickly.

        • JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          If you get the lump sum though that’s a large amount growing when invested. You can easily take that and grow it into more than you’d get over time from the payments.

          • gregorum@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            That’s not a guaranteed payout. The annuity payments, however, is. Plus, with a lump sum, Pam, you get hammered huge amounts of taxes.

            • JustAManOnAToilet@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              If it takes you longer than 30 years to turn $200m into $1.08b then my friend you have a poor financial advisor. Also by then the $1.08b won’t be worth the same, considering inflation.

        • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          This has never been true. If u take the annuity they take the lump and invest that and instead of getting the full profits of that investment you get the same flat rate every year.

          • gregorum@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            You can’t guarantee profits from an investment. That’s just a gamble. However, you can guarantee the gigantic amount of taxes they will deduct from it, and you’re only getting half as much from the cash payout anyway.

    • tea@lemmy.today
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      9 months ago

      Yep. That’s $1.04b taken from the pockets mostly people who should be trying to put it to savings, not giving away money on a pipedream. Giving it to a winner who statistically will likely have their life ruined by such a windfall.

      It’s goddam stupid. The “causes” the lottery pays back to, like education, should be funded by taxing those who don’t need the extra money, not by duping people who desperately need every dollar they earn.

    • Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Oddly enough not entirely. Yes it is a total waste of money to buy a ticket, but I remembered hearing a piece a while back that broke down why the poor bought the majority of tickets. Basically it broke down to the fact that they knew there was no chance of them ever getting out of poverty without some major windfall event. They know that there is no real chance of winning, but sadly it was the closest thing to hope they had. They aren’t stupid just desperate.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    You get three darts to throw at the balloons and if you hit all three you get a prize. No, not the giant bear. Never the giant bear.

  • autumn_rain@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    😆 The last lottery ticket I bought was 38 years ago. I regreted throwing away a dollar it’s too traumatic.

  • buzz86us@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Why do they even bother announcing so much money when we all know taxes are like 40%… what even is the point of announcing such a high figure? Like the government is just paying themselves at this point so why bother taxing it. To provide further dilution you have to accept an annuity to even approach getting all the money.