Powerball jackpot has reached a staggering $1 billion, making it the second-largest lottery prize of 2025 thus far. However, for the winner, the actual take-home amount will be significantly lower due to taxes and deductions.
In Wednesday's drawing, no ticket matched all six numbers, which were 10, 16, 29, 33, 69, and Red Powerball 22. The eventual winner has a choice between two payment options: taking a lump sum of $461.3 million or opting for the annualized payments.
The lump-sum option would initially yield around $351 million after a mandatory federal withholding of 24%. However, with the federal marginal rate as high as 37%, depending on their taxable income, the winner's winnings would plummet to approximately $291 million.
On the other hand, if the installment route is chosen, the winner's annual payments of $33.3 million would drop to a mere $21 million after applying the same 37% federal marginal rate.
The next Powerball jackpot draw takes place on Saturday night, and fans are eagerly waiting to see if anyone will match all six numbers to claim this massive prize.
In Wednesday's drawing, no ticket matched all six numbers, which were 10, 16, 29, 33, 69, and Red Powerball 22. The eventual winner has a choice between two payment options: taking a lump sum of $461.3 million or opting for the annualized payments.
The lump-sum option would initially yield around $351 million after a mandatory federal withholding of 24%. However, with the federal marginal rate as high as 37%, depending on their taxable income, the winner's winnings would plummet to approximately $291 million.
On the other hand, if the installment route is chosen, the winner's annual payments of $33.3 million would drop to a mere $21 million after applying the same 37% federal marginal rate.
The next Powerball jackpot draw takes place on Saturday night, and fans are eagerly waiting to see if anyone will match all six numbers to claim this massive prize.
my mom is literally freaking out bc she thinks one of us has to win and pay off our mortgage or something. anyway idk if anyone else has thought of this but did u know that the tax rate can be super high depending on how much money u make? like i'm no expert but 37% seems crazy 
even tho taking the lump sum sounds like a great idea at first idk if it's really worth giving up half my winnings lol
they're gonna have to be super smart with their finances to make the most of all that cash 
like who even wins that much money? how do they even spend it? i saw a vid of someone buying a whole new house with 100 million lol. but the tax thing kinda sucks, 37% is still super steep 
. It's crazy to think about how much the winner would actually take home - $291 million?! That's some serious scratch 
. Can't wait to see what happens next Saturday - fingers crossed someone will match those numbers and claim the prize! 
But at the same time, it's crazy how much tax you have to pay just because of that big win. I feel bad for the winner, they're gonna have to live with that 37% marginal rate for a while 
. And on top of that, their social life is basically going to be zero - all eyes are on them, no more normal life 
. Guess it's a trade-off between freedom and financial security... not sure I'd wanna make that choice 
. Like, I know the government needs it for stuff, but a billion bucks is a LOT of money! Can you even imagine having that kind of wealth and still giving most of it away? 
. I mean, who can afford to pay that much in taxes? It's like they're trying to suck the life outta that jackpot 
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. First of all, they gotta deal with a gazillion tax forms and audits from the government, and don't even get me started on the financial advisors who'll just take a chunk off their winnings. And let's be real, $291 million might as well be $300 million after they pay all those fees...