If I had a spare 455M, I wouldn't worry about doing any lottery.
M
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On the news just now, there was an item about the US Lottery, with jackpot currently at $1.5bn. They also said the odds of winning were 1 in 303 million.
If you had a spare ~$455mn laying about (2 entries for $3), and ignoring the logistics of buying 303mn tickets, would you risk it?
If I had a spare 455M, I wouldn't worry about doing any lottery.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Buying all 302,575,350 combinations guarantees winning a jackpot. The trouble is that it is likely to be shared with other winners, there will be a large chunk taken off in tax and the lump-sum option is a lot less than the advertised jackpot as only the 30 year annuity pays out in full.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Sick world we live in where someone can do sod all with their life and luck out for $1.5bn. But don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn it down!
Just think how many losers it takes to get to that payout, and then there’s the profit to add on for the organisers!
Lotteries are a mugs game.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
After federal and state taxes, if you chose the lump sum payout, you'd end up pretty much exactly where you started. Roughly speaking, it's 50% lump sum, minus 24-37% on federal taxes, minus whatever state taxes. So yeah, if you had $455m to start with, it would be a total waste of time.
Here's a bit of info, so calculate how you would end up
Don't forget UK taxes (If your stating this as a UK winner of the lottery) - you can buy tickets on line or if you know someone in the US (you trust)
For Powerball’s $550 million jackpot, the cash option — which most winners choose instead of an annuity — is $411.4 million. If there’s a winner, the 24% federal withholding would shave $98.7 million off the top.
However, you could count on owing more to the IRS.
The top marginal income tax rate is 37%. If there were no reductions to the winner’s taxable income — such as large charitable contributions — another 13%, or $53.5 million, would be due to the IRS at tax time
It would take an hour or two filling in 303m tickets, so on balance probably not.
I read that the winner chose a lump sum payout which was still $730 million. That's quite a chunk of money.
730m before taxes?
In the US the same person wins the lottery every time, having the winning ticket just means they have to share some of it with you.