The Powerball grew to nearly $2 billion over the weekend after no winning tickets were sold in Saturday night’s drawing.
The $1.9 billion jackpot is the world’s largest lottery prize ever offered, with an estimated cash value of $929.1 million, according to Powerball, but the odds of winning are just 1 in 292.2 million.
It comes after Saturday’s $1.6 billion Powerball, which had a flat-rate option valued at an estimated $782.4 million, “set the world record for largest national lottery jackpot in Guinness World Records,” according to the California Lottery ‘ broke.
The Guinness World Records “biggest jackpot in a national lottery” was previously set by the Powerball in January 2016, when three tickets won a jackpot of US$1.586 billion.
Powerball tickets cost $2 per game and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
The next drawing of the $1.9 billion jackpot will take place on Monday at 10:59 p.m. EST.
is here to break down your lottery questions.
A huge amount of the record-breaking $1.9 billion jackpot is gobbled up by federal taxes
Monday’s Powerball lottery hit a world record jackpot of $1.9 billion
How many tickets have already been sold?
It’s unclear how many tickets were sold for the $1.9 billion lottery, but nearly 11 million tickets from Saturday’s $1.6 billion jackpot won cash prizes.
The record-breaking lottery sparked a frenzy of people trying their luck for the $1.6 billion prize in Idaho’s Franklin and Oneida counties – which attracts players from nearby Utah – with ticket sales soaring this week by the New York Times by 597 percent.
Around 280 million tickets were sold for Saturday’s drawing
How much of the jackpot would go to taxes?
Federal taxes could eat up a whopping 37 percent of the jackpot — and that’s before other taxes in some states.
Total federal tax on the $1.9 billion pension would amount to more than $700 million over 30 years.
Federal tax on the $929 million lump sum would total nearly $345 million, according to usamega.com.
Then there are state taxes to consider.
How much a lottery winner would pay in taxes would depend heavily on which state they live in, as some states levy state taxes while others do not.
For example, someone living in New York State who has an income tax would have to pay an additional 8.82 percent to the state. Additional taxes also apply to those living in New York City.
That would bring in about $100 million for the state government.
But if a lottery winner lives in Florida, which has no state tax, they would only have to pay federal taxes.
What would happen if I share the prize with my colleagues or friends?
When you enter an office lottery, you can increase your chances of winning because more tickets can be purchased when more people enter.
However, the jackpot would then have to be divided among all participants – and better ones would want to make sure their peers were honest.
Lawyers suggest that anyone coming into an office pool or buying tickets with a group of friends enter into a written agreement detailing how much each person would invest in buying the tickets and how much each person would receive if she wins.
Without such an agreement, attorney Alicia McMurray told 10 News, the person in possession of the physical ticket could redeem it without telling you and refuse to split the money.
But if you have a written agreement, you can sue.
It’s unclear how many tickets have been sold for the $1.9 billion lottery
How can I maximize my chances of winning the Powerball?
There are many theories about how best to increase your chances of winning the lottery.
Some people will say that it’s best to buy lottery tickets regularly, while others will suggest using “lucky numbers” like your kids’ birthdays, and still others will say it’s better to use the QuickPick feature where Numbers are chosen at random.
But the only surefire way to maximize your chances is to buy more tickets to each game, said Harvard statistics professor Dr. Mark Glickman previously told CNBC.
At the same time, however, buying more tickets means that “the investment you make by playing multiple games also increases and payouts vary in a real lottery,” said Dr. Lew Lefton, faculty member at Georgia Tech School of Mathematics.
In other words, it’s not always worth investing more money in a higher number of tickets.
“My advice is don’t play the lottery and win,” he told CNBC. “Nonetheless, it can be fun to play the lottery and imagine winning.
“It’s a different approach, and it’s like any other game of chance: you should only be willing to spend what you can afford to lose.”
Certain numbers have been drawn more often than others – but all have an equal chance of being drawn
What are the most common and rarest numbers ever drawn?
All number combinations have the same chance of winning – but certain numbers were drawn more often than others.
CBS 8 reports that over the past seven years, the top 10 numbers drawn on the five cue balls for the Powerball were:
And the top 10 numbers drawn for the red Powerball over the last seven years are:
According to CBS 8, two numbers are the least drawn main numbers in the past seven years: 34 and 26, both of which have only been drawn 44 times.
How would I go about claiming my money?
Powerball suggests that if you are the lucky winner, you sign the back of your ticket to prove you are the rightful owner in case it is lost or stolen.
To claim prizes of $600 USD or more, winners must visit a local county office or lottery headquarters. The eligibility period for Powerball prizes varies by state and can range from 90 days to a year.
Winners can then choose to have the prize paid out in one lump sum or in 30 tiered payments over 29 years.
States oversee lottery operations and have different rules for how winnings are taxed and whether winners’ names must be published.