Powerball (US lottery)

Powerball is an American lottery that was launched in 1987 when the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) was founded. The Multi-State Lottery Association is a non-profit organization formed by the various US lotteries. The MUSL coordinates the Powerball lottery for the participating states of the United States (USA). The state lotteries of 44 US states, the capital Washington DC as well as the areas of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands are now involved and together offer one of the largest jackpots in the world. The minimum jackpot is 40 million US dollars ($). As usual in the USA, there is the option of having the profit paid out in several tranches.

History of Powerball

The first real Powerball drawing took place on April 22, 1992. At the time, the minimum jackpot was $ 2 million. From November 5, 1997, the minimum jackpot amount was increased to 10, on August 31, 2005 again to 15 million US dollars. Four years later, on January 7, 2009, jackpots started at $ 20 million, with the last increase on January 8, 2012 to $ 40 million. Before the change from 5 out of 59 and 1 out of 35 to 5 out of 69 and 1 out of 26 on October 7, 2015, the probability of winning the jackpot at Powerball was around 1: 175.2 million, since then it has been 1: 292.2 million .

Game principle at Powerball

The principle of the game at Powerball is as follows: 5 numbers from 69 must be selected and an additional number from 26.

Jackpots in the Powerball lottery currently start at $ 40 million. If the jackpot is not hit, the jackpot of the next drawing increases by at least 10 million. If there is more than one winner with the correct winning numbers, the winnings will be split equally.

The profit can be distributed as a one-off payment (“lump sum”) or payment in installments. A lottery winner must choose one of the two options within 60 days. As a one-off payment, the winnings are lower than the installment payments, but the full amount is paid out immediately. The installment payment divides the winnings into 30 installments, which are paid out annually.

The lottery winnings are taxable. The taxes that must be paid on the lottery winnings depend on where the winner is domiciled. There are two types of taxes, a national and a state tax. The amount of the second tax depends on the state in which the winner lives. Furthermore, a distinction is made between US citizens and non-US citizens. If you are not a US citizen, you have to pay more taxes: American citizens pay 25% and foreign citizens 30% of national tax on a lottery win.

The Powerball draws take place on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time . Each tip costs $ 2 or $ 3 with the Power Play Option introduced in 2001.

The probability of winning the Powerball jackpot has been around 1: 292.2 million since October 2015.

The same game principle is used by the Mega Millions lottery , but it has a different concept in terms of stakes, starting jackpot and the game formula 5 plus 1.

Win at Powerball

The smallest jackpot at Powerball is $ 40 million. At the beginning of 2016, the jackpot exceeded the previous high of $ 590 million and hit ten digits for the first time on January 13, 2016, at around $ 1.5 billion.

The highest winnings at Powerball:

	Profit in $	date	Country	winner
1.	1.5864 billion	January 13, 2016	California, Tennessee, Florida	The highest jackpot played is divided into three winning tickets. A syndicate from Florida and a parent couple from Tennessee each receive a one-time payment of approximately $ 327,835,000. The same amount applies to the winning ticket in California if an immediate payout is also chosen there. Otherwise over $ 500,000,000 will be due there.
2.	758.7 million	23rd August 2017	Massachusetts	The highest single win in US lottery history goes to Mavis Wanczyk. She opted for a one-off payment of the winnings. Thus, the 53-year-old receives a profit amount of 336 million dollars (after taxes).
3.	590.5 million	May 18, 2013	Florida	A single lottery ticket won the approximately $ 590.5 million jackpot. 84-year-old Gloria C. MacKenzie bought a Quick-Tip lottery ticket at a Publix supermarket in Zephyrhills, Florida. The winner opted for the one-time payout and received an amount of $ 370.9 million, which after deducting state taxes decreased to approximately $ 278 million.
4th	587.5 million	November 28, 2012	Arizona, Missouri	Two winners, Matthew Good from Arizona and Cindy and Mark Hill from Missouri, opted for a one-time payout and were each paid $ 192,374,000 before state tax withholding.
5.	564 million	February 11, 2015	North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Texas	A North Carolina single mother and winners from Puerto Rico and Texas opted for a one-time payout and were each paid $ 127,046,000 before state tax withholding.
6th	448.4 million	7th August 2013	Minnesota, New Jersey	The largest number of players to ever win a jackpot was a syndicate called Ocean's 16. The jackpot was $ 448.4 million, with a cash option of $ 258.1 million. The syndicate, which consisted of 16 members, won a third of this, as there were 3 winning tickets in total. Thus, the syndicate ticket accounted for $ 86,054,355 before taxes. State taxes are 25%, which is $ 21,513,589 on the total profit. Furthermore, in the state of New Jersey an additional 3% tax is levied, which in this case is $ 2,581,631 and the payout after deducting all taxes and other deductions for each syndicate member is $ 3,872,445.94 . The other winners, Mario Scarnici from New Jersey and Paul White from Minnesota, also opted for a one-time payout and each received $ 86,054,355 before state tax deductions.
7th	425.3 million	19th February 2014	California	B. Raymond Buxton opted for a one-time payout and was paid $ 242.2 million before state tax withholding.
8th.	399.4 million	18th September 2013	South carolina	The anonymous winner received $ 223,250,000 before state tax withholding.
9.	365 million	February 18, 2006	Nebraska	A group of eight at a meat processing company opted for a one-time payout and received $ 177,270,000, making $ 22,158,750 for each. Of that, they had to pay 25% federal taxes and 5% additional Nebraska state taxes, so they actually had $ 15,511,125.
10.	340 million	October 19, 2005	Oregon	The winners from two families chose a one-time payout and received $ 164.4 million before state tax withholding.
11.	338.3 million	March 23, 2013	New Jersey	Pedro Quezada, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic, opted for the one-off payment of $ 211,000,000, leaving him with about $ 152,000,000 after taxes.

Web links

• Powerball official site

Individual evidence

1. ↑ powerball.com - Official site of Powerball [1]
2. ↑ Powerball Infographic [2]
3. ↑ American hits $ 600 million jackpot. In: Handelsblatt , May 19, 2013, accessed on September 26, 2013.
4. ↑ Powerball - History. In: www.powerball.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Welcome to Powerball - Prizes. In: www.powerball.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015 . 
6. ↑ Powerball information [3]
7. ↑ powerball.com - FAQ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated August 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Welcome to Powerball - Prizes. In: www.powerball.com. Retrieved October 20, 2015 . 
9. ↑ Powerball: $ 1.5 billion jackpot cracked on sueddeutsche.de on January 14, 2016
10. ↑ Powerball - Stories. In: www.powerball.com. Retrieved May 24, 2016 . 
11. ↑ Powerball - Winner's Stories. (No longer available online.) In: www.powerball.com. Archived from the original on August 29, 2017 ; accessed on August 29, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ http://www.abendblatt.de/vermischtes/article116900301/Zwei-Dollar-Einsatz-590-Millionen-Dollar-Rente.html
13. ↑ Powerball 2013 Winners Archived copy ( memento of the original from February 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
14. ↑ 338 million jackpot: "I'm a millionaire, turn on the TV". In: Spiegel Online . March 26, 2013, accessed June 10, 2018 .