Everyone's buzzing to see if one lucky person will claim the $900 million Powerball lottery winnings. But while pondering how you could spend the cash can be fun, you may want to take your daydreaming down an ever-so-slight notch.
According to USA Mega, the take-home cash total for a $900 million Powerball is actually $558 million, or 62% of the total pool.
This is assuming the winner takes the lump-sum, instead of an annual payout for 30 years.
And it doesn't even include taxes.
The 25% Federal tax deduction from the lump sum would ding an additional $139.5 million, leaving the winner with $418.5 million. That's only 46.5% of the advertised $900 million jackpot.
And it doesn't stop there. Depending on where you live, the state tax can be as high as an additional 8.82% — another $49 million reduction in take-home total.
So assuming you live in New York (where the state tax peaks) the final lump sum value is $369,284,400.
Head over to the USA Mega Jackpot Analysis site for a breakdown of every states' tax rules in relation to the Powerball.
Though it's no $900 million, that is an enormous sum of money. The first thing you should do upon winning the lottery? Tell no one, and hire a lawyer.
According to USA Mega, every Powerball pool starts at $40 million. After that, if no one wins during the bi-weekly drawings, the sum increases proportionately to ticket sales.
The next drawing for the Powerball takes place on Saturday January 9 at 10:59 p.m. EST.
Update: The Powerball lottery has now reached $1.3 billion after no winning numbers were drawn Saturday. The next drawing is Wednesday, January 13 at 10:59 p.m. EST.
