Winner winner chicken dinner! You just won the lottery, but do you know what to do next? Here’s what to know before you cash out.
Someone in Florida won the $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot Tuesday night, ending a stint of lottery futility that had stretched for nearly four months.
A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery.
The winning numbers drawn were: 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and the yellow ball: 14.
The $1.58 billion payout would be if the winner opts for an annuity option, doled out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot is an estimated $783.3 million.
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A big slice of those winnings would also go toward federal taxes. There's a mandatory 24% federal withholding for winnings above $5,000 that goes straight to the IRS. And while many states also tax lottery winnings, Florida is not one of them. The winner will also avoid paying personal income taxes on their prize.
And while we don't know yet the identity of the lucky winner, they can't remain anonymous for long. Florida law requires disclosure of winners' names after 90 days.
“We congratulate our newest jackpot winner, as well as the more than 43.7 million winners at all prize levels throughout this jackpot run," said Georgia Lottery President and CEO Gretchen Corbin, lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium. "We also celebrate the funds generated for the many good causes supported by our participating lotteries.”
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Tuesday night's drawing also produced seven new million-dollar winners. Two tickets - one each in Florida and North Carolina - were worth $2 million after matching all five white balls and adding the optional Megaplier, which was 2x. Another five tickets sold in California, Pennsylvania, Texas (two) and West Virginia won $1 million.
Before the big win Tuesday night, there had been 31 straight drawings since the last time someone won the game’s jackpot on April 18. That enabled the prize to steadily grow to be the largest in the game's history and third-largest ever in the U.S.
And if it seems like lottery jackpots topping $1 billion are more common nowadays, it's because they are. Since 2021, five prizes have topped $1 billion, not counting the latest game. The increased frequency is due to higher interest rates and worsened odds for winning a jackpot, which for Mega Millions is 1 in 302.6 million.The higher the interest rate, the larger the annuity can grow over three decades. The U.S. is in the midst of a remarkable run of interest rate increases, with the Federal Reserve raising a key rate 11 times in 17 months, and that higher rate enables a roughly $500 million lump sum prize to be advertised as a jackpot of about twice that size.
Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawing are every Tuesdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. ET.
