Hoping to win $700M Powerball jackpot?
No Texan has won the 10 largest Powerball jackpots thus far; odds of winning Wednesday’s grand prize were 1 in 292.2 million
The top prize for Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot drawing was estimated at a hefty $700 million.
The cash value for that comes in closer to $335.7 million after federal and jurisdictional taxes for anyone who needs a little reality check. But hey, who wouldn’t want that kind of payday?
Winning all that money — the fifth-largest Powerball jackpot ever — meant overcoming some major odds. There have been 35 drawings for this jackpot before Wednesday with no grand-prize winner, which led it to grow into the Powerball’s largest prize so far this year.
The odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 292.2 million, while the odds of winning some sort of smaller prize were about 1 in 24.
However, there are quite a few things you’re more likely to achieve than winning a major lottery prize, like say, being attacked by a shark (1 in 11.5 million), being struck by lightning (1 in 1,171,000), or becoming the president of the United States (1 in 32.6 million), or scoring a hole-in-one as an amateur golfer (1 in 12,500).
“So far in 2022, 16 second-tier Powerball prizes of $1 million or larger have been sold to Texas Lottery players, including five during the current jackpot run,” Texas Lottery officials said in a Wednesday news release.
Tickets are $2 per play. “For $1 more per play, players can multiply their non-grand prize winnings by two, three, four, five or 10 times” with the Power Play, the release said.
Fun fact: No Texan has won the 10 largest Powerball jackpots thus far. Those few winners have come from Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
If you ended up being that lucky Lone Star State winner, you’d be able to choose how you receive your prize. Options include a lump-sum payment or an annuity paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years.
Then, of course, once you had your money you’d need to decide what to do with it.
Dallas Mavericks owner and “Shark Tank” personality Mark Cuban offered some tips for managing the winnings:
• Hire a tax attorney first.
• Opt for the annual payments — you don’t want to blow through the lump sum.
• Tell your friends and relatives no if they ask for money. If you want to help some, talk to your accountant first.
• Don’t make investments so you don’t have to worry about losing money. Put the money in the bank and live comfortably.
Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 9:59 p.m. To win the jackpot, you’ll need all five white ball numbers (which range from 1 to 69) and the red Powerball number (which ranges from 1 to 26).
If there was no jackpot winner for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, the jackpot for Saturday’s drawing is set to be an estimated annuitized $800 million.