A lucky ticket sold in Florida has won the largest Mega Millions jackpot in history, with a staggering prize of $1.58 billion. The ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night, beating the odds of 1 in 302.6 million. The winner will have to choose between receiving the jackpot in 30 annual installments or a lump sum of $783.3 million before taxes.
How Much Will the Winner Take Home After Taxes?
The winner will have to pay a hefty amount of taxes, both at the federal and state level, regardless of which payment option they choose. According to Forbes, the lump sum payment will face a mandatory federal tax withholding of 24%, leaving the winner with $595.3 million. Depending on the winner’s taxable income, they could face a federal marginal rate of up to 37%, reducing their winnings to around $493.5 million.
The winner will also have to pay state taxes, which vary depending on where they live and where they bought the ticket. Florida is one of the 14 states that do not tax lottery winnings, so the winner will not have to pay any state income tax on their prize. However, if the winner lives in another state that does tax lottery winnings, such as New York or California, they could owe up to 13% of their prize to their state.
If the winner opts for the annuity option, they will receive 30 payments of around $52.6 million each year, before taxes. The payments will increase by 5% each year to account for inflation. The winner will still have to pay federal and state taxes on each payment, which could change over time depending on tax rates and brackets.
What Are Some of the Other Prizes Won in This Drawing?
Apart from the grand prize, seven tickets won million-dollar prizes by matching all five white balls. Two tickets sold in Florida and North Carolina had the Megaplier option, which doubled their prizes to $2 million each. Five tickets sold in California, Pennsylvania, Texas (2), and West Virginia won $1 million each. California’s prize was higher than usual, at $3,383,371, because it bases its second-tier prizes on sales in the state.
In total, there were more than 9.8 million winning tickets across all nine prize tiers in this drawing, according to Mega Millions[2][2]. The prizes ranged from $2 to $2 million, with a total payout of more than $1.6 billion.
How Did This Jackpot Grow So Big?
This jackpot was the result of 40 consecutive drawings without a winner since April 18, when a ticket sold in East Syracuse, New York won a $20 million jackpot. The jackpot started at $20 million again and grew rapidly as more and more people bought tickets for a chance to win the life-changing prize.
The jackpot reached $1 billion for the first time on July 28, and then surpassed the previous Mega Millions record of $1.537 billion set in 2018 on August 4. It continued to grow until it reached its final amount of $1.58 billion on Tuesday night.
This jackpot was also the third-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever, behind only two Powerball jackpots that reached $2.04 billion in 2022 and $1.586 billion in 2016.
