A lucky resident in California is going to have their life changed after the winning Powerball Lottery ticket was sold in the state. The jackpot was sitting at $1.765 Billion, which is the 2nd largest lottery jackpot in the USA. The Powerball jackpot has been rolling over since the 19th of July, rolling over for 35 lotto draws. The previous Powerball Jackpot also exceeded $1 Billion and was also won by a resident of California.
2nd Largest Jackpot Win in USA History
This latest win to come out of the Golden State was sold at Midway Market and Liquor Store in Frazier Park, which is about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.
The winning numbers from this latest draw were 22, 24, 50, 52, 64, and 10, which was the Powerball. The jackpot now resets to its base amount of $20 Million. The odds of winning the jackpot sit at around 292 million to One. For an amazing visual representation of these odds, check out this infographic created by the Wall Street Journal.
$1.7 Billion Jackpot Breakdown
The winner of this $1.7 Billion jackpot will now be able to choose between receiving the payout in a once-off cash payout or an annualized payment plan over 30 years. If the winner decides to take the once-off payment, the jackpot will be reduced to $774.1 million. This would then be further reduced by around $286 million in federal taxes, meaning they would walk away with about $487.7 million. Thankfully, there are no state taxes on lottery winnings in California, so they wouldn’t lose any more in taxes.
However, the smarter move would be to take the annualized payment plan. The winner would still lose around $600 million in federal taxes, but they would receive an immediate payment of $37 million. This payment would be repeated annually for the next 29 years, increasing in value by 5% each year, giving a total payout amount of just over $1.1 Billion.
California is the Place to Buy Lotto Tickets
California seems to be the place to buy winning tickets. This is the fourth time a Californian resident has won a jackpot exceeding $1 billion. Four of the seven largest winners have come from the Golden State. The largest lotto win of all time in the USA was won by a Californian man in November 2022, when he won a $2.04 Billion Jackpot. Instead of taking the annualized payment plan, he opted to take the $997 Million once-off payment.
