Patiently awaiting all of the comments stating that the lottery is rigged.

Rigged......

What should I do then ? DANCE ?

Congrats to the Winner(s)!

musta been a quick pick?

Wow Hometown Gas is 2 miles from my house! Hoping the winner is somebody I know. Congrats to them. They are now the richest and most taxed individual in the state of Maine.

    I know, some people actually believe there is such a thing as a lucky state or unlucky state or even a lucky store. Gee,  they say store on the state border sells a lot of winning tickets. Or it must be rigged because California has the most winners. These people should be banned from playing.

I'm moving to Maine. I need some luck going forward on the next billion dollar drawing.

Let me guess the winner is an old guy/lady

Hopefully in a few weeks for the Powerball.

"The whopping jackpot is the fourth-largest the world has ever seen, and the second-largest in Mega Millions game history"

Well hmmm.... Looks like the sixth largest and fourth largest to me

  "Powerball: $997.6 million cash, Nov. 7, 2022 ($2.0401 billion annuity) - California
    Powerball: $983.5 million cash, Jan. 13, 2016 ($1.5864 billion annuity) - California, Florida, Tennessee
    Mega Millions: $877.8 million cash, Oct. 23, 2018 ($1.537 billion annuity) - South Carolina
    Mega Millions: $780.5 million cash, Jul. 29, 2022 ($1.337 billion annuity) - Illinois
    Mega Millions: $776.6 million cash, Jan. 22, 2021 ($1.05 billion annuity) - Michigan
    Mega Millions: $724.6 million cash, Jan. 13, 2023 ($1.35 billion annuity) - Maine"

It was the Altadena California winner who was visiting relatives in Maine before cashing the ticket they bought in California

Congrats to the very lucky winner. This is the very first time I have ever heard of a big jackpot winner from Maine, i'm sure they are excited, especially the friends and relatives.......lol.

Why would you take the cash value and then compare it out of context to a sentence that discusses the annuity ranking?

The annuity ranking is pointless.  There are ways to manipulate the annuity rating to anything you want but it is way harder to manipulate the cold hard cash value.  (near the end, on this jackpot, the cash value went up but they didn't change the annuity amount on this roll)

There is that old joke about the lottery with the trillion dollar jackpot  paid out as a dime a year for ten trillion years if you are missing the point.

Besides the annuity values have a steady percentage increase built in even though they have no idea what inflation will be over 29 or 30 years.

Even the cash value rankings are impacted by inflation but with that they are somewhat easier to compare while adjusting for inflation.

better chance at a state lottery than the big one.

there goes the joe biden number 46.

I'm glad someone from Ca didn't win. Mad that I didn't win. And I hope the winner doesn't claim the prize anonymously!!!

strange,i been copying winners numbers for weeks but then they don't win.the lotteries don't tell if it was a quick pick as they can put a quick pick in any state they want to win.

I am not playing anymore. It's a big scam. Just a waste of my money.

Good luck with that...LOL They've won like ONCE..EVER!

Now the focus is on that $400 million+ PowerBall Jackpot.

It's not scam  you should analyze each numbers from recent results then play with math formula.

All drawing games works with specific math formula.

* That's exactly where l am, and the low hanging fruit- aka The State lottery which sits at $7 Mil take home after tax. Either win would do!

* You glad? That statement is definitely not felliniesque.

I have 2 for tonight. I won $20 on MM which helped pay for the extra tickets. 

I think it would be cool to win 2 weeks from now since that's my birthday, but I'll take a win anytime.

We went out to dinner early last night and the party at the next table was doing a toast to winning the Mega Millions. They were apparently a part of a lottery pool. I wonder if the Maine winner was actually a group buy.

Congrats to the Lucky winner, enjoy.

"The record-holder for the world's largest lottery jackpot was a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot in Nov. 2022, won by a single ticket sold in California. The winner has not yet claimed the prize."

What's the average time taken after a jackpot pick to claim the Powerball jackpot over the last 10 years?

Very suspect that no one has claimed the largest lotto jackpot ever.   This was the draw with the super long delay.    This story doesn't add up as it stands.     

Could it be a scheme by an insider State employee to direct the winnings to their department's spending control?

Remember, California was also the first state to immediately come out the night the draw was supposed to happen and said the drawing was being delayed due to a security issue in another state.  IMO, lots of people lost trust in the big two lotteries after that entire fiasco.

Remember, the lotto winner in South Carolina who last won the $1.5 took abt 6 months, nothing strange

I gather it takes a while to write up a will, etc.

Future headline. Winner of 1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot finds misplaced winning ticket in car one week before expiration date. 

lottery is so rigged alll that money

PB only went up $12 mil

I guess people spent all their $$ on MM

Wow, Congratulation to the winner! With big jackpots like these I always hope it's a group of people like coworkers or something.

Hi ShagE3 here ... I've visited this site for many years but just became a member so I'm a first time/ longtime.  Anyway my question to everybody is this : had the Maine winning ticket been bought in New Hampshire and assuming the holder of the ticket is a Maine resident . . . could he/she get away from paying Maine taxes by simply moving to New Hampshire before claiming the prize? Perhaps one has to set up residence and live a certain amount of time instate like 90 days or 180 days before being official and then claim the prize?  What are your thoughts?

"They are now the richest and most taxed individual in the state of Maine. "

No telling whether they'll want it a for themselves or give a lot to charity, but after taxes they could end up with a bit over $400 million. Their tax bill would be higher but they'd still be about $100 million poorer than Stephen King. I didn't bother asking Google, but I think that King is the richest resident of Maine.

"could he/she get away from paying Maine taxes by simply moving to New Hampshire before claiming the prize? "

Yes. The money doesn't become taxable income until claiming it, so a ME resident could move to NH and then claim the prize as a NH resident. King winters in FL but apparently hasn't made that his  domicile in order to save on state income tax. No telling where the winner of this jackpot will end up, but they bought the ticket less than 2 miles from the nearest lottery retailer in NH, where the potential savings on state income tax is almost $52 million. I generally figure it doesn't make sense to drive out of your way to buy a ticket but I'd have driven that 4 mile round trip.

"Why would you take the cash value and then compare it out of context to a sentence that discusses the annuity ranking? "

You mean the sentence that says "The whopping jackpot is the fourth-largest the world has ever seen, and the second-largest in Mega Millions game history"? There's absolutely no context in which that sentence discusses the annuity ranking. I understand why the lotteries advertise inflated jackpots that aren't real, but anyone who pays attention knows that virtually all jackpots are paid as cash prizes.

"near the end, on this jackpot, the cash value went up but they didn't change the annuity amount on this roll "

That has now happened several times with MM.  Advertising the jackpot as an annuity value that virtually nobody will take is hyperbole, but I'm inclined to think the increased cash values they've been posting might be actual fraud. It just seems wildly unlikely that an updated sales forecast combined with a lower interest rate has coincidentally  resulted in no change to the annuity value each time.

It would take another month (around 6th to 15th of February) to reach another $1B+ jackpot if no one wins.

I can wait!

In most states that have state income tax, any income from that state is subject to state income tax regardless of state of residence. Unless the state exempts lottery winnings from state income taxes, there is no way to get out of paying income taxes to that state.

In my state(Louisiana), if a full time resident of the state has to pay state income taxes to another state for some reason, those taxes can be deducted as a non-refundable credit from what Louisiana is requiring the individual to pay. It's probably the same or similar in other states, so there's really no way to get out of paying.

Let me try to clarify .... If I currently live in state A which has an income tax but I buy the winning ticket in state B that has no income tax ..... Could I move to state B .... establish residency and collect my winnings tax free? Another words leave state A move to state B and collect in my new state?

No.

Any other opinions or thoughts? Anybody?

The state lottery has to set aside a fixed percentage of fed and state taxes after the win and before the winner comes forward. Most states require 6 months or more to establish residency. It would look like you were intentionally trying to avoid paying additional taxes to state A and it would likely be flagged for an audit with a huge jp win.

There is an offsetting credit between states so you would not be double taxed if both states had state taxes.

Technically speaking the ticket isn't official to it's signed right?..... So I could sign it after having established residency but before the expiration date for claiming the ticket, I would think it is legally possible but highly improbable.  I guess the reason why I'm beating down a dead horse is that for the Friday mm draw the difference in state income tax was tens of millions of dollars $60 mil + wouldn't you want to save that kind of dough?

I believe they go by where you reside when you purchased the ticket.

Otherwise you have jackpot winners moving to states with no state income tax before claiming their winnings.

No. I would not want to risk paying a tax penalty or worse for such a stunt. I would pay what I owe and not be so greedy. Reread my first sentence.

The story has been updated with the final jackpot tally: $1.348 billion, or $723.5 million cash option.

The people who are constantly saying the lottery is rigged are angry because they have not won yet. Also these people most likely are the ones who only play when the jackpot gets huge. They think the jackpot prize is the only money to be won so, if their ticket matches 5 out 6, 4 out of 6 and so on, they throw the ticket away, not knowing or don't care that  there are smaller prizes to be won.

There is Only ONE winner. Besides, one couldn't spend that in a lifetime.  The lottery is a S.

It definitely is where I am.

The lottery isn't rigged, its the payout stipulations that are crafted to the states benefit. Just like the proceeds are supposed to go toward education, instead it goes into the general fund, and it's up to the lottery winner to file suit, (they never do) besides do you think that someone who scores a 500 million cash value jackpot gives a flock how much they are taxed???

  The winners will wake up in the morning just like everyone else does wondering what to do today. After about a week they will wish they never won the thing.

Lemme guess, after they get sick of being billionaires next week they should give it to you?

The lottery is rigged. You will never win a lottery jackpot in your lifetime.

Well, since Powerball tonight is about 415 Million I'll put my own
neurotic predictions out there.
03-16-17-30-33, 18
03-16-20-33-46, 08
03-08-12-45-55, 08
13-16-19-30-39, 18

I post these so they DON'T come out on a given night, because I either can't get to the store, or I don't have the money to play them.  I always have a reoccuring nightmare that These numbers come out... and I don't play them.

Well... I post them... so... there you go...

Just curious...... How do you know for certain there is "Only ONE winner"?? Perhaps the ticket sold was bought for a group ? Or the purchaser is sharing with family or friends.

As far as spending $400,000,000. is concerned ???

https://www.superyachts.com/luxury-yacht-for-sale/ije-4393/      $209,000,000.00

https://wealthygorilla.com/most-expensive-private-jets/        $44M - $120M

https://robbreport.com/feature/most-expensive-houses-world-sale-now-2807417/

(Just #17-25 on the above  link for homes)

There !!!!   Spent it for ya 

"Technically speaking the ticket isn't official to it's signed right? "

The ticket is official the moment the  central computer authorizes it and lets the terminal print it. It's not definitely a winning ticket until the lottery validates it and declares it a winner. Signing it has nothing to do with either of those things.

It's almost always for other reasons, but people move to different states all the time. There's a waiting period before you can vote in your new state, but your tax status changes as soon as you move because it's determined by residency.

"Otherwise you have jackpot winners moving to states with no state income tax before claiming their winnings.

Taxes are based on where the income is from or where you reside when the income becomes taxable. The winner in Maine can move whenever and wherever they want, but the ticket was sold in Maine so it's subject to Maine's income tax, and moving won't change that. The same is true for every other winning ticket sold in a state with an income tax on winnings from the state's lottery. Moving out of a state will only affect future income that doesn't come from the state you moved out of. To benefit from moving you have to have bought the ticket in a state that has lower taxes.

Rumor has it that someone's pet dog Sir. Barksalot won it all.

Tooo funny !!

I'm sure this has probably been discussed in some thread but I have always wondered if instead of choosing to take the cash option jackpot you and a financial advisor team could opt to claim the annuity and then sell the annuity to some financial/investment group or company.  I'm sure it would be for less than the total payout of the annuity but it could be considerably more than the cash option.  Has anyone ever heard of this being done?

People used to sell the remainder of the annuity fairly often back when the annuity was the only choice. The annuity  is from buying very safe and conservative investments, so  you can definitely find a better rate, but you'll give up some security. I seriously doubt that you could sell the annuity for more than the cash value because the buyer wants to make a profit, and has to accept some risk if they want a better return than the lottery accepts.

Selling the annuity would only screw you over. It definitely would not be in your favor.

Its always better to take the cash, unless you just have 0 self control, for 2 reasons. You can put the cash in a very conservative investment like a mix of treasury bills and index funds for an average roi of about 5% per year and put it to work through compound interest. 2nd reason is you have no guarantee of future tax rates and they are far more likely to be higher than they are to be lower.