5th-largest US jackpot ever; 5th-largest cash value
By Todd Northrop
Mega jackpots are back!
2014 came and went as a year devoid of frenzy-inducing lottery jackpots, but 2015 is shaping up to be jackpot-chasers' dream.
Between now and Wednesday evening, anyone can walk into a store and buy a lottery ticket for a couple of bucks that has the potential of winning around a half-billion dollars.
An estimated $450 million, to put a finer point on it — but even that amount is likely to be far-exceeded by the time the Powerball drawing kicks off Wednesday evening.
That's because lotteries typically are very conservative in their initial jackpot estimates. But like we saw with Saturday's Powerball drawing, the initial estimate Thursday morning was $360 million, which grew to $380 million by Friday afternoon, and finally to $394.5 million by draw time Saturday night.
Seasoned lottery players keep an eye on the lump-sum cash value of the jackpot, and the initial estimate is just as eye-popping: $304.1 million. And likely to grow even bigger before Wednesday.
When compared against all lottery drawings conducted in United States lottery history, Wednesday's Powerball jackpot ranks 5th all-time, and the cash value also ranks as number 5 among all cash values in history. (See the top 25 United States annuity and cash value jackpots below.)
Of course, the big winner (or winners) will have to pay taxes on their prize, so USA Mega has a handy Jackpot Analysis page available to calculate the federal and state taxes that would be withheld upon the award of your nice big jackpot.
This is the largest Powerball jackpot since — well, since the largest Powerball jackpot of all time was awarded in the May 18, 2013, drawing. A single lottery ticket, purchased by Gloria MacKenzie of Zephyrhills, Florida, won the entire $590.5 million grand prize. (See Winner of record $590.5 million Powerball lottery jackpot announced, Lottery Post, June 5, 2013).
Wednesday's mammoth jackpot is the result of 20 consecutive draws without a winner. The run-up started as a $40 million prize on December 3, 2014.
The winning numbers for Saturday, February 7, 2015 were 5, 10, 21, 34, and 58, with Powerball number 33. The Power Play number was 5.
Even though nobody won the jackpot Saturday, 11 lucky players matched the first 5 numbers for a $1,000,000 prize: 2 from California, 2 from Florida, 1 from Louisiana, 1 from Massachusetts, 1 from Missouri, 2 from New York, 1 from Ohio, and 1 from Texas.
The two California second-prize winners each will be awarded $1,388,464, because California does not award fixed prizes. By law, California awards all prizes on a pari-mutuel basis, meaning the prizes will change each drawing based on the number of tickets sold and the number of tickets that won at each prize level.
Only one of the second-prize winners purchased the Power Play option — the ticket sold in Massachusetts. Because that ticket was purchased with the Power Play option their second-prize win is automatically doubled to $2 million. Power Play is not available in California, because the fixed nature of the prize increase offered in Power Play is not compatible with California's pari-mutuel payouts.
101 tickets matched four white numbers plus the Powerball and won $10,000. Of those tickets, 11 were purchased with the Power Play option, increasing the prize to $50,000, and 10 of the tickets were sold in California, where the prize was worth $13,056 this drawing.
Following the Saturday drawing, the Powerball annuity jackpot estimate was raised $55.5 million from its previous amount of $394.5 million. The cash value was raised by $37.5 million from its previous amount of $266.6 million.
The next Powerball drawing will take place Wednesday night at 10:59 pm Eastern Time.
When a Powerball ticket is purchased with the Power Play option for an extra $1 per ticket, any non-jackpot prize is increased according to a fixed prize schedule, which can be found on the Powerball Drawing Detail page at USA Mega, as well as on the Powerball Prize Payouts page at Lottery Post.
Powerball is played in 44 states, plus the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega Web site provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States's two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
Top 25 United States lottery jackpots of all time
Wednesday's Powerball jackpot currently stands as the 5th-largest lottery jackpot of all time in the United States, and the 3rd-largest Powerball jackpot ever. Brisk sales will almost certainly push the jackpot estimate higher by draw time.
If nobody wins Wednesday, it's anyone's guess how high it will go.
- Mega Millions: $656 million, Mar. 30, 2012 - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Mega Millions: $648 million, Dec. 17, 2013 - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $590.5 million, May 18, 2013 - Florida
- Powerball: $587.5 million, Nov. 28, 2012 - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $450 million, Feb. 11, 2015 - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $448.4 million, Aug. 7, 2013 - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Powerball: $425.3 million, Feb. 19, 2014 - California
- Mega Millions: $414 million, Mar. 18, 2014 - Florida, Maryland
- Powerball: $399.4 million, Sep. 18, 2013 - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $390 million, Mar. 6, 2007 - Georgia, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $380 million, Jan. 4, 2011 - Idaho, Washington
- Powerball: $365 million, Feb. 18, 2006 - Nebraska
- The Big Game: $363 million, May 9, 2000 - Illinois, Michigan
- Powerball: $340 million, Oct. 19, 2005 - Oregon
- Powerball: $338.3 million, Mar. 23, 2013 - New Jersey
- Powerball: $337 million, Aug. 15, 2012 - Michigan
- Powerball: $336.4 million, Feb. 11, 2012 - Rhode Island
- Mega Millions: $336 million, Aug. 28, 2009 - California, New York
- The Big Game: $331 million, Apr. 16, 2002 - Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $330 million, Aug. 31, 2007 - Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
- Mega Millions: $326 million, Nov. 4, 2014 - New York
- Mega Millions: $319 million, Mar. 25, 2011 - New York
- Mega Millions: $315 million, Nov. 15, 2005 - California
- Powerball: $314.9 million, Dec. 25, 2002 - West Virgina
- Powerball: $314.3 million, Aug. 25, 2007 - Indiana
The number of jackpots in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Powerball: 13
- Mega Millions: 10
- The Big Game: 2
The Big Game is the original name of Mega Millions, from the game's first drawing on Sep. 6, 1996 through May 14, 2002. The name was changed to Mega Millions starting with the May 17, 2002 drawing.
Top 25 cash value jackpots
Since many lottery winners collect their winnings in cash, the lump-sum payout is an important measure of what a winning ticket could be worth.
Looking at the cash value, the upcoming Powerball jackpot ranks as the 5th-largest cash value in U.S. history.
- Mega Millions: $471 million cash, Mar. 30, 2012 ($656 million annuity) - Illinois, Kansas, Maryland
- Powerball: $384.7 million cash, Nov. 28, 2012 ($587.5 million annuity) - Arizona, Missouri
- Powerball: $370.9 million cash, May 18, 2013 ($590.5 million annuity) - Florida
- Mega Millions: $347.6 million cash, Dec. 17, 2013 ($648 million annuity) - California, Georgia
- Powerball: $304.1 million cash, Feb. 11, 2015 ($450 million annuity) - Preliminary estimate, not won yet
- Powerball: $258.2 million cash, Aug. 7, 2013 ($448.4 million annuity) - Minnesota, New Jersey (2)
- Mega Millions: $240 million cash, Jan. 4, 2011 ($380 million annuity) - Idaho, Washington
- Mega Millions: $233.1 million cash, Mar. 6, 2007 ($390 million annuity) - Georgia, New Jersey
- Mega Millions: $230.9 million cash, Mar. 18, 2014 ($414 million annuity) - Florida, Maryland
- Powerball: $227.8 million cash, Feb. 19, 2014 ($425.3 million annuity) - California
- Powerball: $224.7 million cash, Aug. 15, 2012 ($337 million annuity) - Michigan
- Powerball: $223.3 million cash, Sep. 18, 2013 ($399.4 million annuity) - South Carolina
- Mega Millions: $214 million cash, Aug. 28, 2009 ($336 million annuity) - California, New York
- Powerball: $211 million cash, Mar. 23, 2013 ($338.3 million annuity) - New Jersey
- Powerball: $210 million cash, Feb. 11, 2012 ($336.4 million annuity) - Rhode Island
- Mega Millions: $202.9 million cash, Mar. 25, 2011 ($319 million annuity) - New York
- Mega Millions: $197.5 million cash, Nov. 4, 2014 ($326 million annuity) - New York
- Mega Millions: $194.4 million cash, Aug. 31, 2007 ($330 million annuity) - Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, Virginia
- Mega Millions: $185 million cash, Nov. 15, 2005 ($315 million annuity) - California
- The Big Game: $180 million cash, May 9, 2000 ($363 million annuity) - Illinois, Michigan
- Mega Millions: $177.3 million cash, Jan. 16, 2015 ($270 million annuity) - Illinois
- Powerball: $177.3 million cash, Feb. 18, 2006 ($365 million annuity) - Nebraska
- Powerball: $170.5 million cash, Dec. 25, 2002 ($314.9 million annuity) - West Virginia
- Mega Millions: $168 million cash, July 2, 2004 ($294 million annuity) - Massachusetts
- Mega Millions: $167.7 million cash, Feb. 22, 2008 ($275 million annuity) - Georgia
The number of jackpot cash values in the top 25, by lottery game, are:
- Mega Millions: 13
- Powerball: 11
- The Big Game: 1
well things just got interesting
A lot of lives will be changed by this, hopefully, a lot of good will be done. I suspect it will reach $475,000,000 by Wednesday..........
i cant believe nobodies nnumbers matched. i had two in a row and off two numbers by one each. today il buy 3 tickets and two mega millions. doesnt matter what the jackpot is(:
how many tickets are you going to buy? so many people are going play im just putting 6 dollars
$450 million Woo Hoo
JACKPOT FEVER!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
Dang, when I finally went to bed last night, it was some winner in Brooklyn NY.
Come on Powerball! Wooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!
Let's not forget Puerto Rico is in the mix now too, good luck everyone!!
oh man, had all the six numbers but on different tickets!!!
so close!! cant believe no one won it
The Jackpot analysis is really COOL!!! I already knew that Maryland was crazy in taxes from the people I know/work with but this chart PROVES it
If I hit in Delaware my cash prize is - $228,075,000 due to no state taxes on it!
Maryland appears to be tied with NY for the LOWEST - $ 201,466,250
so 28 mil more for me!! LOL!
I can see the coffers from Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada and Utah leaving to border states to play the lottery. Didn't include the other two holdouts for obvious reasons...where could Hawaiian or Alaskan residents drive to? lol
Must be nice not to have State taxes taken out of the lottery win. With the extra $28 million left over, I'd go out and purchase my first starter house for $28Million ! LO L
J/K (Maybe).
I'd like to think I would stay within $500,000-$2M max range at tops when I win. But I am sure I will exceed that easily with more than $200M in the bank. :)
11 millionaires were created this draw. What more can you ask for?. Maybe 20 millionaires next draw, including me as one of the winners. Let the fun begin!!!.
One of the 5 out of 5 winners came from a quick pick of a store right down the road that I use to go to all the time before starting to play the lotto. I guess I need to start going there and tap into that luck well =D
DE..... Don't to forget the tax taxes taken(25%) out are not the taxes you will owe in full. If the $304 million cash offer is taken, your Fed income tax rate is at 39.6%. That will leave you around $183 Mil & change if you live in a non income tax state(like TX). Course, you get to take any deductions to offset it...
Still not a bad haul on a $2 investment !!!
Miss Annie says "nobody touches my catnip stash"
Yes it did..but it would be interesting to see if it rolled one last time..
Is it hammer time yet?
I say it's going to be at ~$500 million come Wednesday, which pushes up the lump sum to ~$330 million.
I downloaded the Intuit tax calculator app and plugged the numbers in (Got much different numbers from what I had gotten using the straight 39.6 & state deductions).
Based on the app, after the lottery takes it's 25% and the state takes it's 6%, I'd only have to pay an additional $45m in federal taxes next year (which will be much less after charity deductions) which would leave me with a minimum of $184,000,000...net.
That is an extremely beautiful number.
Happy dance!!
Looks like I might buy a ticket for the next drawing.
I got 1 number on 2 separate lines out of 5 tickets. BLNT (Better Luck Next Time)
Ima going to get my ticket!
Ah the simple pleasures of life .................
I don't think that counts as a simple pleasure.
Same but I'm wondering if I should splurge and get 2 tickets!
$2 INVESTMENT WILL TURN INTO MILLIONS.
Look at the sparkle in his eyes. He his having visions of the brand new Cadillac that will take him down south to his winter home on the beaches of Florida. (Over 65 and rich are required to have at least one Cadillac - FL State Law - lol)
Wow! That is nice!
Did you have any luck from last nights drawing? I got the usual goose egg.
It took us two days to drive from Anchorage( Ft. Richardson) to Seattle we left Friday night and arrived Sunday night on our way to Ft. Stewart Ga.
We are all already know whats going to happen. As usual we are going to see and old lady or an old man or some rich folk who already have million of dollar came forward to claim the prize. Whoever dont know this before must be slow or something. I still believing the lottery was design to make the rich get richer and the poor people living at the bottom to get poorer.
Its amazing that players put in an adittional almost 60mil. $ (394.5 to 450mil) but only 12mil out of the aditional 60mil which is about 10% made a real difference to only 112people total !! 12 got about 1mil each and 100 got 10grand each.
so this draw millions have played and only 112of them won something significant.that's about 0.0005%winners of 10grand+5/0 match for this draw if we put 5million players !!
the rest of them got fooled again like me
,
Sounds like you've been couped up too long in that box of yours....Jack.
@jack27, this is true for the simple fact that those who can least afford to gamble/play the lottery are those that spend the most. I'm not rich, or particularly what I would call well-off so, I only buy ONE ticket (usually with power-up option) per drawing when the jackpot gets BIG. I can comfortably afford to lose (in probability) my $2-3 per ticket. I do not, however, spend my whole paycheck or even a large(r) portion on the lottery. That way lies madness.
I, like many, have a child to put through college somehow, not to mention I would like to be able to retire and not have to work well into my 70s-80s and beyond. The lottery is just a fun 'what-if' for me - not a hope, necessity or habit. Take care of your family & future first before spending money you may not have to spend, on what is essentially a pipe-dream for everyone but the winner.
Not preaching - everyone is individual and will do as they see fit. Good luck to all of you and God bless each and everyone.
Sounds like you've been playing a long time and not winning big so how could you have been fooled again? Did you expect this time to be different?
I'm in the same boat but the only thing that would surprise me is that I win a nice prize.
Todd, what's your plan Thursday morning when you realize you have the only winning ticket?
Pro Tip:
Buy your ticket(s) early. This 450 million jackpot is going to attract long lines at lottery retailers. There probably won't be too many people buying tickets today or tomorrow.
yeah get to the store early, you don't want to end up like this guy https://www.lotterypost.com/news/285551
"Canadian man loses $27 million lottery jackpot by 7 seconds"
Let it roll, $600,000,000.00 is the number it will roll too.......
My birthday is on the 11th of February so instead of a birthday bash I'm thinking of a lotto bash.
It's best to make that a way-belated birthday bash, majestic1070, as it could take 45 days to receive the electronic transfer into your checking account, after you've officially claimed the win!
My husband and I are spending the weekend in Kentucky next weekend,cant wait to play the Lottery.So excited.Wish us luck in another state....
Don't have to worry about that in my area, they is a lottery retailer for every 1500-2000 players. Not like before PB was sold locally and I have to travel over the state line to buy a ticket. Last night I bought my tickets about 9:50PM, ten minutes before cut-off time and I was the old customer at the drive-thur.
"I was the old customer at the drive-thur."
Don't sell your self short, RJ. You're that old.
WHEN you can explain how some mysterious lottery person can arrange for a rich old lady or old man win,and the lottery is designed to make the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, THEN you will have the credibility to make such a statement.
UNTIL such time, you are simply blowing smoke out your a$$.
Dpoly now THAT is a gorgeous car. Hmmmmmm may have to add a car to my planned one car and a truck thoughts. White Bentley, how very pretty. All it needs is to have a white interior.
I just reread my post and the words I thought weren't there. They was in the place of there and old was in the place of only. I should start checking my posts for the correct words and spelling.
POWERBALL MEGA JACKPOT FRENZY 2015!!!
ME WINNING IT 2015!!!
500M$ by Wednesday - 5 winners - 100M$ each - after taxes and other expenses (tithe, state, professional fees) 25M$. I think I could make do with 25M$. It might be tight... but I would be willing to suffer in silence.
If you win, get a good lawyer first before you contact the lottery. Maybe a good accountant would also be helpfull.
how many tickets did you buy? i bought 3. dont need alot cus many ppl buying with this frenzy
I will be buying PB tickets in 4 different states for this drawing. Never done that before so that could be a lucky omen.
okay i have another question. if i win, i would rather not move. id love to stay in my neighborhood. would tht even be possible?
Before you even contact the lawyer the first and most important thing is to MAKE SEVERAL COPIES OF THE TICKET!! Then hire a lawyer followed by moving out of your house and into a hotel or whatever if you are in state where you have to come forth publicly to claim your prize. At least here in Maryland, winners can remain anonymous so I could stay in my house, but hell I'm out of here and this state if I win!
You can live anywhere you want too. I think a lot of winner would love to do that but as soon as their identity becomes public knowledge to be able to live in peace they have to move. If you have pretty chill neighbors or a extremely safe neighborhood with a pretty strict access control then it would be easier I guess.
If I win I don't need to move because I live in P.R and the winner are kept a secret , but I would move because I live in a small home 10 minutes from the beach and I want to move to be in walking distance.
I'm going to another city so I'm going to get a ticket over there and maybe if I have time and change a ticket in my city. I wont get more than 2 tickets.
Whether you live in a state that allows you to remain anonymous or not, these are some suggestions I'd offer to everyone:
time to buy my one ticket and win it all
A SECURITY FIRM? Come on, now....
.
First, if you live in a state where you can remain anonymous...you can remain anonymous.
Otherwise, agree you have to be extremely careful, but how many major JP winners over the years, even with their names made public, have had genuine security issues, at least ones that made headlines?
Not many. After a period of time, the winning names get forgotten or at least put on the shelf until the next huge JP winner comes along.
i live in illinois, 45 mins from glendale heights where the last mega millions winner won. a gas station enployee i go to says couple customers told him that person has gone missing and r looking. or they could be hiding idk who knows now
I live in an anonymous state so you guys won't know when I win
Many sad endings to the lives of JP Winners are not from people who found them via the news. Most of the tragic and sad endings happen because of friends and family who want more than what you may be willing to give. Most of what Ive seen that has been shocking has been spouses, children, and/or other family members.
Actually, quite a few have received threats, especially when the number is high. Many of them have had to get the police involved because the threats were that serious. The Morrisons hired a security detail to stay with everyone in their immediate family in the week after their names were announced. I can think of 2 winners off the bat who had to get the FBI involved. There are a lot of greedy wackos out there who wouldn't think twice about killing someone for their lottery winnings.
I was with you right up to #9. And if this were a smaller jackpot, I'd probably agree. But since the after taxes take home amount will be knocking on the door of $200 million, a person could go on a shopping spree and not make a dent. I will be closing on (if not already moved into) my new and wonderful house within 30-60 days of that money hitting my bank account. A luxury car and an SUV will be in the garage and some new clothes will be in the closet. I think that may touch on 3-5%. I will be cautious and conservative with the rest of the money, but I will absolutely be splurging on the things I want (but don't need) within that 90 days. After that, I'll have the rest of my life to be careful and cautious with the remaining 95%.
Have a Season Tikcet from Massachusetts, have a ticket from Indiana, got some from the casino in Ohio today and more Kentucky ones and the way home. So be both have tickets from four different states!
^This = Truth
Cool...being retired Army I'm so glad to read about your endeavours. Good luck to you and Go Army!!
I hear you. For me personally, I want to have some things in order, and I dont want my spending to announce my status too soon. But I understand we all will employ different strategies.
day 0 - wednesday 2/11 = win
day 1 - wake up with severe hang-over - step over most of friends/family - look frantically for winning ticket.
day 2 - fill prescriptions for no-panic-attack medicines - call CPA and start arranging 'team'
day 3 - take 'team' down to lottery headquarters and redeem ticket
day 4 - answer 100th phone call from lost friends and shirt-tail relatives. yank phone from wall
day 5 - let phone repair man into home to fix wiring. finish packing for last-minute vacation with family.
day 6 - board airlines in economy (money hasnt hit our accounts yet - all we can afford with 7 immediate family at last minute is economy)
day 7 - wander around Disney World waiting for money to hit.
days 8 - 32 - run out of money in Florida - staying at an econo lodge while frantically checking to see if money has hit.
day 33 - money hits! pass out - hitting head while fainting and recovering in ER... ut oh... now everyone knows my name down here too!
day 34 - throw all clothing and suitcases away and go on impromptu shopping trip - spend WAAAAYYY too much money.
day 35+ - caution is thrown to the wind. tutors hired for children and g. children. yacht chartered for month long trip *while humming Gilligans Island theme song*
l get the funny feeling that we wont have to wait long to find out
... you will announce it for all to hear. After-all, you telling us that you " Play Weekly". l am betting that NOBODY asked you for that information prior to setting up your account, or did they?
man I win and I'm gone... ...moving out the country asap. I'll talk to my family like I do now ,on the phone and every couple of months. I'll happily take the problems and "burden" of having to much money..
Oh Yeah?- going to move out of the country, refuse to see faces of your loved ones up close and personal, no real hugs or kisses? Lets do that on Skype ...over Money? No Thank You ..glisit3000.
That was funny--You would have to have someone close--Family do get mad over money. Mom and niece already have my money spent---NOT. It would be nice to know the Wisconsin mathematical equation.
hmm... Portugal would be alright... i could end up there. Or Italy - I always liked the idea of living in a country shaped like a boot.
but i would take the family with me. and we would all learn portugalese or Italch - you know - the local dialects done with bad American-accents.
I completely agree. You have to give yourself some 'blow' money to celebrate. Plus a new place to live and an upgrade in vehicle.
For those states that insist on the publicity.. would they delay the announcement/news conf/etc until funds were confirmed in your bank? Especially for those who have nothing to draw on to escape the crazies, no place to go, no funds to go into hiding. For someone in that situation, it would be like the attack of the living dead..
I was expecting to see more pictures of cars and houses in this thread.