Christmas Day Powerball lottery winner claims $48.8M jackpot

Feb 4, 2011, 10:05 am (15 comments)

Powerball

WILTON, N.Y. — The winner of a $48.8 million Christmas Day jackpot has come forward to claim the prize, New York Lottery officials confirmed Thursday.

Carolyn Hapeman, a  New York Lottery spokesperson, said the ticket-holder came in on Tuesday afternoon to claim their prize — more than a month after it was sold at the Stewart's Shop at 4208 Route 50 in Wilton, New York.

Hapeman declined to identify the winner until the verification or auditing process of the ticket has been completed.  That process, because Powerball is a multi-state lottery, requires additional notification.

Hapeman would give no clues as to where they might live, their gender or why they waited this long to reveal themselves.

"All will be revealed in due time," she said.

A check presentation is also being coordinated that will include the winner, Stewart's officials and Yolanda Vega, a Lottery personality.

The ticket, sold on Dec. 25, cost $1. The odds of winning were 1 in 195 million. A computer was used to select the winning numbers, 1, 17, 38, 50, 52, and Powerball number 24.

Taken in annuity payments made over a 30-year period, the winner could get up to $48.8 million. If the winner opts for a lump sum, he or she could receive $24.8 million.

The amounts do not include state and federal tax payments that, under the annuity plan, could reach nearly $16.5 million. The lump sum payment would result in a lump-sum tax bill of about $8.4 million.

Stewart's Shop, the seller of the winning ticket, stands to be awarded a $10,000 bonus from the Lottery.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

megamanX's avatarmegamanX

nice, they spent only $1. I wonder if the numbers were quick picks.

sully16's avatarsully16

Congrats Carolyn enjoy your good fortune.

Bagent's avatarBagent

Quote: Originally posted by megamanX on Feb 4, 2011

nice, they spent only $1. I wonder if the numbers were quick picks.

I am not for certain, but the article stated that a computer was used to pick the numbers.

megamanX's avatarmegamanX

Quote: Originally posted by Bagent on Feb 4, 2011

I am not for certain, but the article stated that a computer was used to pick the numbers.

yeah. I can't believe I missed that. 48.8 mil with one ticket. I wish it was me

ressuccess's avatarressuccess

Congratulations to the Powerball Jackpot winner in New York on Christmas Day.

buttercake's avatarbuttercake

Its amazing how a $48.8m win would result in a $8.4m payout, it feels like you win big just in order to pay huge tax back to the government, this is sad as you can't say your a $30m $40m $100m and so on lottery winner not if you opt for your winnings to be paid in annuity payments.

 

Congrats to the winner and I hope he or she makes the best decision as to how he or she would like payment of this winnings to be made

JWBlue

Quote: Originally posted by buttercake on Feb 4, 2011

Its amazing how a $48.8m win would result in a $8.4m payout, it feels like you win big just in order to pay huge tax back to the government, this is sad as you can't say your a $30m $40m $100m and so on lottery winner not if you opt for your winnings to be paid in annuity payments.

 

Congrats to the winner and I hope he or she makes the best decision as to how he or she would like payment of this winnings to be made

The tax bill was $8.4 million.  His payout ends up being about $16 million.

 

Still.  I have said many times on this board.  The advertised anuity amount is blatant false advertising.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

congratulations to the winner....

DETLotteryPlaye

so wait

can  you file for taxes and get some of it back?

tiggs95's avatartiggs95

Quote: Originally posted by sully16 on Feb 4, 2011

Congrats Carolyn enjoy your good fortune.

ATTENTION SULLY: Carolyn is the Lottery spoksperson and not the winner..Try to keep up and thanks for playing along..

joshuacloak's avatarjoshuacloak

DETlotterypaye

about tax's on powerball and mega million jackpot wins

they withhold 25%, onless a charity ,none tax entity claiming it LOL

thro the top fed rate is 35%  , so they need to pay a other 10% ontop of the 25% they taken later, and am not even going into if you live in a income tax state rates. see usamega for their jackpot

Jackpot Analysis

 


 

however, if say you won, and like given Half or some large amount away,  when you file for your income tax's on that years lottery win, you Could in theory get a "refund"  as your allowed to take your charity out of Taxable income etc

my evil plan is to not give to charity, Hell no, it be Buying  Millions more of  lottery tickets/instance games for that tax year only

, Sense their taxing you on your winnings via gambling, your  allowed to  deduct   losses!,     

sense your allowed to Deduct your Gambling Loss of that same tax year to offset some of the tax on your Win amount, i say go Nuts,

 in short, your allowed  to Gamble and Lose, , Oh will, i just write it off vs my winnings,  same write off power as if i was donateing to a chairty, 

say i won 16m in cash, if i went and spent say 6 million LOST it on all loser tickets , i could deduct it, and now i only pay tax on 10m, just like if you was to give away your money, besides, the lottery is a form of charity to me, LOL

megamanX's avatarmegamanX

Quote: Originally posted by tiggs95 on Feb 5, 2011

ATTENTION SULLY: Carolyn is the Lottery spoksperson and not the winner..Try to keep up and thanks for playing along..

Carolyn should enjoy her good fortune. Who wouldn't want to be a spokesperson for the New York Lottery? Sounds like a cushy job to me.

megamanX's avatarmegamanX

Quote: Originally posted by joshuacloak on Feb 5, 2011

DETlotterypaye

about tax's on powerball and mega million jackpot wins

they withhold 25%, onless a charity ,none tax entity claiming it LOL

thro the top fed rate is 35%  , so they need to pay a other 10% ontop of the 25% they taken later, and am not even going into if you live in a income tax state rates. see usamega for their jackpot

Jackpot Analysis

 


 

however, if say you won, and like given Half or some large amount away,  when you file for your income tax's on that years lottery win, you Could in theory get a "refund"  as your allowed to take your charity out of Taxable income etc

my evil plan is to not give to charity, Hell no, it be Buying  Millions more of  lottery tickets/instance games for that tax year only

, Sense their taxing you on your winnings via gambling, your  allowed to  deduct   losses!,     

sense your allowed to Deduct your Gambling Loss of that same tax year to offset some of the tax on your Win amount, i say go Nuts,

 in short, your allowed  to Gamble and Lose, , Oh will, i just write it off vs my winnings,  same write off power as if i was donateing to a chairty, 

say i won 16m in cash, if i went and spent say 6 million LOST it on all loser tickets , i could deduct it, and now i only pay tax on 10m, just like if you was to give away your money, besides, the lottery is a form of charity to me, LOL

Tax deductions and tax credits are not equal. In fact, there are HUGE differences between the two. Do yourself a favor and google, "tax deductions vs tax credits." It would suck if you won the lotto and then ended up broke and up to your eye balls in debt a few years later.

In a nut shell, tax credits will lower your tax liability dollar for dollar but unfortunately tax deductions will only lower your tax liability up to a certain amount depending on your tax bracket.

If you were in the 35 percent tax bracket, you'd only be able to reduce your tax liability 35 cents for every one dollar you lost. So if someone in the 35 percent tax bracket bought $100 in losing lotto tickets they'd only reduce their tax liability by $35, meaning they'd be out $65. An easier example would be, if you gave me a dollar and I gave you back 35 cents, does that sound like a good deal?

In your example, you win 16 million in cash and buy 6 million in losing tickets, you'd only be able to reduce your tax liability by 2.1 million. This is not exactly a sound financial stratagy. If you ever won big, I'd suggest talking with a financial planner or at the very least a CPA before doing anything drastic.

butterflykt's avatarbutterflykt

What a way to start the new year....

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