Just like last year's 'Christmas Miracle'?
By Todd Northrop
Lottery players across the United States are buying their Mega Millions tickets in preparation for Friday's massive $168 million Christmas Eve drawing.
The lump-sum cash value stands at a staggering $107 million.
For gift-givers who enjoy giving loved ones and friends lottery tickets, the Friday Mega Millions drawing may make a good gift, as the recipient can instantly see if they have won. On the other hand, should nobody win the Friday jackpot, the next one held the Tuesday after Christmas will be even bigger.
In 2009, a Kentucky couple claimed a state-record $128.6 million Powerball jackpot in a drawing held the day after Christmas. The prize was termed a 'Christmas Miracle', as the winning ticket was printed by mistake on Christmas Eve. (See Lottery Post's coverage of the winner: www.lotterypost.com/news/206635.)
Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot is the accumulation of 12 consecutive drawings without a top prize winner. The current jackpot run-up started on Nov. 12 as a $12 million grand prize.
Players should note that jackpot amounts are conservative estimates provided by the lotteries, and are often somewhat higher by the time the drawing occurs.
In the latest Mega Millions drawing that took place last night, there was no jackpot winner, but 10 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $250,000 prize: 4 from California, 1 from Delaware, 1 from Kentucky, 1 from Maryland, 2 from New York, and 1 from North Carolina.
The four California winners will each be awarded prizes of $195,910, because California awards all prizes in a pari-mutuel formula, which calculates the prize amount based on the number of tickets sold and the number of winners in each prize category. This often has the effect of making the prize higher than the other Mega Millions states, but in Tuesday's drawing, because an unusually large number of people won the second prize, the payout is lower then normal.
Following the Tuesday drawing, the Mega Millions annuity jackpot estimate was raised $23 million from its previous amount of $145 million. The cash value was raised by $15.2 million, from its previous amount of $91.8 million.
The next Mega Millions drawing will take place Friday evening at 11:00 pm Eastern Time.
Mega Millions is currently offered for sale in 41 states, plus Washington, D.C.
For a complete set of game descriptions, results, history, and all questions regarding Mega Millions, lottery players are encouraged to visit USA Mega (www.usamega.com), a Web site that caters to the Unites States's two multi-state lottery games, Powerball and Mega Millions.
What a great stocking stuffer.
I am hoping that it will be a great bank account stuffer!
69,000,000% ROI after taxes !
Im dreaming of a $168m Christmas
Guess Ill buy me two tickets
and if I win I'm taking the 26 Year Period not the lump sum
first off, anyone who takes the 26 year payout is a Sucker, 1 the govt spending trillions they don't have, and the dems want rich people money, you trust them with your future as a rich person, your a nut
2nd, any person with a brain can make more money, for the rest of their lifes by taking the cash now, and investing it into,
Dividend Paying Stocks
i know of tons of great stocks rangin form 5 to 10%, fyi, dividend payments are taxed much lower then income 35% rate, try 15% max!
and where not talking about fly by companys ether, where taking solid rest of your life time companys
you know at&T or even verizon
, the 2 biggest telecos in USA, thats right, their dividend rates, 5.8 right now for AT, and 5.6 for Verizon
with 69 million cash invested in stocks, ,that's even atfer tax's 35%!, i be earning more then your Lolz 26 year payments, as you be tax'ed 35% if not more down the road, how you think they going to pay for all the trillions they loaning now, WITH YOUR MONEY wise guy
, while i have all future income tax'ed at 15%, i did the math, even low end of 5% payback, with a MAX tax rate of 15% for dividends, am sure making more then you Per year in dividend payments by investing 69 million by my own CHOICE, and if you go for the higher close to 10% dividend stocks, your Rapeing 26 year payouts amount LOLZ
and its the fact ITS FOR THE REST of my life, not 26 years to boot, your 26 year payout is a sick joke pulled on dumbies who fall for it, if anyone takes that, your losing money
owning a company stock, that pays out to their owners their profits FOR THE LIFE TIME OF THAT COMPANY, , is the smartest invest in the world atm if your thinking LONG TERM, my great grind kids will be living it up dividend payments in a trust they can't touch but collect the money form dividend, now thats what i call LONG term investing :P
thro out history, nonething has came close to the rewards of owning a solid company who goal is to give back to its owners, ask IBM stock holders who have had the stock for over 30 years, how they Feel about their investment in the stock then, ROFL
They will with hold 25% for taxes, that is a federal requirement so it's true for all states but that in no way accounts for all of the taxes you will owe. Come April 15th, you'll likely to have to pay at least another $10 million if not more in taxes in addition to the $23 million they with held from you.
A lot of jackpot winners that were foolish enough to not solicit professional advice wound up having to negotiate with the IRS.
Of course, the annuity is effectively a tax deferred investment and you will be unable to find much opportunity to invest the money tax free so you would be a fool not to take the annuity especially since the first payment should be more than enough to pay all your bills plus provide for an extravagant lifestyle
i love people who don't read what i say
if you FREAKING READ my post, i even said quote
"with 69 million cash invested in stocks, ,that's even atfer tax's 35%!"
i said, i have 69M to invest ATFER 35% , thats ATFER max fed tax rate,
next time, try talking to someone who does not read usamega jackpot Jackpot Analysis
i like to think of my self as a Professional invester, as i have already done the research and could beat easy annuity payments
only thing the annuity payments have is they invest the money into CARP govt bonds with the money BEFORE tax's, you sure pay the tax's on collecting of the money
so don't be fooled, while you have all of the currect 107 cash invested into the govt annuity, you sure pay tax's, i was trying to tell people
to take the 35% max tax now, and use the 69m in cash atfer full fed rate , and YOU CAN sure make more money, per year and for the rest of your life
god do i hate people not understanding logic
awesome
its Xmas squabble about it after ya win ......
as for me ..... I'd be very happy just to see it go to anyone of us here so long as it was put to good use
besides the goverment hasn't totally destroyed us YET ..... count yer blessings
Merry Hexmas to all and humbug new year
This jackpot amount could not have had come at a better time than this! I guess one american player could away with it!
It could be you!!!!!!!!!!!!!it could be you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It could change your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love the subtle programming hints to motivate ticket buyers to buy-by-bye......
Aint mad at them. If it works then the states can say "HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRI$TMA$!"
To the jackpot winner, congratulations and what a wonder Christmas present. You deserve it.
To be honest I would not be surprised if the jackpot rolled over to New Year's eve. What a way to end the year..
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I only buy with my co-workers when the jackpot is 100 mil or above.
This will be an Awesome Christmas Present for someone...(HOPEFULLY YOURS TRUELY!!) It would make a Great Christmas.....and an Nice New Year also! I would celebrate my New Years in the Bahama's or in Hawaii maybe..... Don't worry LP I would send a nice video Post Card of Me on the beach...LOL
What would be better is having 4 or 5 winning tickets and maybe one of those being a lottery pool. Don't get me wrong, I would gladly accept $60 million after taxes, but why not spread the holiday cheer?