Wisconsin factory workers win $208M Powerball lottery

wait until the lawsuits start. there will be i know i put my money in the pool or so and so was supposed to do it for me.

He(They) would be thinking: I(We) should have joined that pool! LOL

With that many "in the pool" I guarantee that there will be at least one or two that will say they have been in it all along and were absent that day, out of town, etc...

Interesting thread....in this or the other one about this jackpot someone mentioned some of these people might take the cash option, and some an annuity, is that possible?

I thought lottery payoffs were one or the other.  

Wouldn't they have to be one or the other, as the cash option reduces the jackpot amount? 

$208,000,000/100 Winners=$2,080,000 each

Those that want Annuity get: $2,000,000 Annuity

Those that want Cash get: $1,000,000 Cash (before Taxes)

If you want the exact $ Values you need to apply the PB Algorithm!

If I remember correctly wasn't there a large Powerball jackpot winner their in Wisconsin in the late 90's?  I'm trying to search for the story but I can't remember the guys name. He was from chicago.  I think it was one of the largest jackpot's at the time.  The ticket was purchased for him by a bartender (mabey) I don't recall and he was suppossed to split it but I remember stories of him giving only $1million each and keeping the rest.  Anyone know the guy I'm talking about?

The WI Lottery will offer each winner the choice to take cash or annuity.  Basically, you first split up the cash for each winner ($958,211.70 if there are 100 winners) and then, for those that want the annuity, Powerball will go to competitive bids for the securities to fund those who want the guaranteed, graduated annuity (perhaps $2.086 million).  Powerball will use the full cash amount, BEFORE any taxes are taken out to buy securities to fund the annuities.  The annuity winner then pays taxes only on the amounts actually received each year - and, of course, the tax rates on the smaller amount are lower.

OK guys, wait:

$208,000,000/100 Winners=$2,080,000 each

Those that want Annuity get: $2,000,000 Annuity

The winninng ticket is a (one) ticket.

 The prize is either an annuity based on the advertised jackpot, in this case, $208,600,000 or cash option of 42.6% of the advertsied jackpot. (I think I've read that here, 42.6%).

So wouldn't cash option be based on $88,608,000, not the $208 million?

That would give us $88,608,000 / 100 winners = $ 886,080 each, not $2,080,000 each.

I guess we'll see how it all comes out when they get paid for real,  but I just can't see Powerball (MUSL) basing some payoffs on an advertised jackpot whjich implies annuity and paying some others a cash option based on the advertised jackpot.

From the PowerBall FAQ:

CAN INDIVIDUALS IN A GROUP CHOOSE CASH AND ANNUITY?
CAN INDIVIDUALS IN A GROUP DIVIDE THEIR SHARE UNEQUALLY?

An individual lottery may have rules about how they will pay a winner (how many checks; how many winners to process, etc.) but PowerBall can handle any request to divide the prize payments. We can divide the prize however the individuals in a group wish, including requests for cash or annuity. But again, an individual lottery's rules will apply and most lotteries have not had to consider this question.

From Wisconsin's Claim Form:

Multiple-Owned Tickets. To share a Lottery prize
ALL of the following must be completed:
• The Lottery will recognize more than one claimant claiming a prize from a single ticket only when item 6 on the front of this form is answered “yes” and each claimant in the group completes a claim form.
• A court order is required for any prize for which there is more than one claimant. The court order must be accompanied by a separate winner claim form for each prize claimant.
• Multiple-owned tickets must be processed at the Madison office. This process may take up to two weeks after the court order is received.
• A person claiming a prize or part of a prize is subject to withholding, pursuant to Wis. Stats. 565.30(5t), the amount to be withheld shall be deducted from the prize claimant’s proportionate share of the total prize.
• For tax reporting purposes, the Lottery will recognize only those individuals who have filed a claim form for a particular prize. Once a prize has been paid, the Lottery will not accept requests to add persons to the list of individuals who will share a prize.

Well that would be rule #1 if I ever started a pool.  Everyone would have to agree that the group takes the cash or it gets too complicated.

Rule #1 in Wisconsin: Don't Start a Lottery Pool! (It's too complicated)

We are making this Waaaay too complicated.  Lotteries have cash.  If the winners want the annuity, then the lottery invests the cash, pre-tax, and puts the cash and the interest earnings together to come up with the annuity amount (the amount paid over time). 

 The annuity is estimated based on current quotes but can't be known until bids to buy the securitites (which doesn't happen unless a winner wants the annuity). 

OK, I guess it is complicated.

If the annuity is $208.6 million and if there are 100 winners, then each share of the annuity would by $2.086 million.  The cash amount was $95.82 million so a cash winner's share would be $958,211.70 (to be exact since the cash amount, based on sales, is known).  And if there are exactly 100 winners.

The lottery starts by dividing up the cash among all winners and then asks, "anyone want that as annuity?"  If yes for some, then Powerball will buy go out to bid for some annuity streams.

Here's another little truth.  When the press says "after taxes", they really mean "after tax withholding" (though even they don't know that.  There are more taxes than tax withholding.  For example, the IRS tax withholding is 25%, but the maximum IRS tax rate is now at 35%. 

Or, it may be easier to just follow the general advice - "get plenty of tax and legal advice".

MA Megabucks is _still_ annuity only.

chuck32, you should stop hawking annuities, and concentrate on getting more MUSL members to join Hot Lotto.

Hawking?  Which at least implies pushing a "bad" choice in a marketing envirnment?  With all of the "cash only" propoganda out there, sometimes a little truth is needed. 

The best option, as always, is probably somewhere in between.  Lotteries can only offer two options under the tax rules and so they offer the two extremes - cash and a long-term graduated annuity.  The best case for all winners would be to allow them to set up their own annuity stream (X% as cash; X% as annuity over X years).  Current tax rules would not allow that - with that much choice for the player, the IRS would simply tax the prize as 100% cash.  That said, the annuity is clearly the best option for most winners.  Maybe I should change my post name to "Annuity Only".  Hmmm.  Well, more choice is always good.

On the HL front.  A new state will join in November.  That little game is going to be hot.

chuck32

 Here you say:

If the annuity is $208.6 million and if there are 100 winners, then each share of the annuity would by $2.086 million.  The cash amount was $95.82 million so a cash winner's share would be $958,211.70 (to be exact since the cash amount, based on sales, is known).  And if there are exactly 100 winners.

The lottery starts by dividing up the cash among all winners and then asks, "anyone want that as annuity?"  If yes for some, then Powerball will buy go out to bid for some annuity streams.

So my question is still:

The lottery starts by dividing up the cash among all winners and then asks, "anyone want that as annuity?"

Anyone want what as an annuity? The annuity or cash option has to be declared before shares start getting divvied up, no?

Granted the lotteries have the cash for the payoffs, but is this was all as simple as that, there would be no difference between the advertised prize and the cash option, it would simply be how do you want to get paid.

"Everybody in the pool except Frank wanted an annuity.

Why not Frank?

Well, it's a twenty year annuity.

Yeah?

Well, he's 99 tears old you know..."