Powerball Jackpot

Powerball Jackpot

The United States has two multi state lotteries offering mega jackpots. Both games, Powerball and Mega Millions are available in most states with lotteries. In several states players may purchase tickets for both lotteries on the internet. The current Powerball Jackpot is $301 million, the largest since February. Recently the Powerball lottery was revamped and while players have a greater chance of winning non jackpot prizes the odds of winning the top jackpot have been raised. Before the changes take effect October 4^th the odds of winning the Powerball jackpot were 1 in 175 million. Once the changes take effect the odds will be 1 in 292 million. Some lottery experts say that top Powerball jackpots of $1 billion will be likely.

Determining the real value of a Powerball jackpot can be confusing. The advertised jackpot is $301 million but if a single player elects a lump sum payout the real jackpot value is $191 million pretax. Federal taxes can easily take 50% of any large jackpot. How much winners get to keep depends on where they bought their Powerball ticket. California and Pennsylvania exempt lottery winnings from taxation as long as the Powerball tickets were purchased in state. Six other Powerball states, Florida, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Texas, South Dakota and Washington, do not have state income taxes and Powerball jackpot winners in those states only have to pay federal taxes.

The changes in the Powerball lottery may be confusing to some players. Instead of 59 white balls there will be 69 and 26 red balls instead of the old 35. Michigan Lottery spokesman Jeff Holyfield told reporters “While the change makes it harder to win the big jackpot it increases the number of winners for the other significant prizes. When those big jackpots roll around, the casual players and non-players tend to pay attention and buy a ticket.” The changes make the Powerball jackpot the most difficult for players to win.

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