Topline
The Powerball jackpot soared to $501 million after no winners were drawn Saturday, but a lucky winner will face federal and state taxes on their winnings.
Winners can choose between receiving $501 million in annualized installments, or a lump sum of $229.5 million.
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Key Facts
No tickets were sold matching Saturday’s numbers (7, 14, 23, 24, 60, and Powerball number 14), pushing the jackpot over $500 million, now the second-biggest lottery prize of the year.
A Powerball winner in the next drawing would have the option to receive the $501 million jackpot spread out in 30 payments over 29 years, or take a lump sum of $229.5 million—the more popular option.
A federal withholding tax is applied to the winnings, bringing the jackpot down to $380.7 million and the cash lump sum down to $174.4 million.
A 37% marginal tax rate for the highest income bracket would bring the lump sum down to $144.6 million.
If winners take the full jackpot, their $16.7 million annual payments could bump them into the highest income tax bracket with a 37% marginal rate, bringing their annual payments down to about $10.5 million.
Winners also have to pay state taxes on jackpots—New York levies the highest tax rate on lottery winners at 10.9%, while some states like Texas and California do not tax lottery winnings at all.
What To Watch For
The next drawing is scheduled for Monday night, Aug. 11 at 10:59 p.m. EDT. If no tickets are sold with the winning numbers, the next drawings take place Wednesday and Saturday. The jackpot grows every time no winner is selected.
Key Background
Powerball tickets start at $2. A winning ticket matches all five numbers drawn on white balls (between 1 and 69) and the Powerball number on a red ball (between 1 and 26). The odds for winning a jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, while the odds for winning the $1 million prize (matching all five numbers without the red Powerball number) are 1 in 11.6 million.
Big Number
$1.326 billion. That was the biggest Powerball jackpot in 2024, which was won by Cheng “Charlie” Saephan, a cancer patient in Oregon. Like most winners, Saephan chose to take the lump sum and received $422.3 million in cash.