North Carolina Lottery sets top prize at amount that guarantees a $1 million payout after tax
By Kate Northrop
JAMESVILLE, N.C. — The North Carolina Lottery has paid out exactly $1 million post-tax to a player who won a top prize in a game that factors in taxes to guarantee the million-dollar amount.
A North Carolina man won $1 million in a scratch-off game — but for real.
Ralph Mizelle of Williamston is the first winner of a $10 North Carolina Lottery scratch-off game called "$1,000,000 Taxes Paid" that offers a distinctive top prize.
He stopped at Jamesville Mini Mart on N.C. 64 in Jamesville and purchased one of the new tickets, beating the odds of 1 in 1.85 million to win the game's top prize.
Many players who win an advertised $1 million top prize will generally walk away with a check for less than the full amount due to state and federal tax withholdings on the prize, but that's what makes this particular game unique.
When Mizelle arrived at Lottery headquarters in Raleigh to claim his prize, he received a clean $1 million since the actual top prize was $1,388,696 — just the right amount to account for taxes paid on the prize.
Mizelle claimed the first of three top prizes in the game, leaving two remaining. There are also six out of nine second-tier prizes of $20,000 and seven out of nine third-tier prizes of $10,000 left.
The North Carolina Lottery also offers this type of scratch-off game at other price points, including $2, $5, and $20 versions, that each pay out a top prize of $20,000, $200,000, and $2 million, respectively, after taxes are paid.
The overall odds of winning any prize in the $10 "$1,000,000 Taxes Paid" instant game are 1 in 3.95.
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That's kind of a good start. Why not just get rid of taxes on lotteries and call it a day.
ICR the last time a 'Taxes Paid' scratch ticket was offered...I'd venture to say about ten years. Like mypiemaster said, just get rid of the taxes.
* The powers that be are Greedy. They want to tax everything, if it's not lottery winnings, it's social security. Then l read our defense budget is between $900 billion & $1 Trillion plus. The contractors seem to be winning but the guy playing the lottery & losing...
Yes, get rid of the income taxes on lottery winnings. Money that is won is NOT money that has been earned.
And, while we are at it, get rid of the annuity too. People who would play for the cash and win can purchase all of the annuities they want to. And, they do not need to have an annuity amount that bounces around based on current interest rates dangled in front of them as advertising hype.
It's basically just smoke and mirrors. Just read the ticket. It's a good marketing tactic, though. You're actually playing for a top prize of $1,388,696. They just tell you upfront what your after taxes winnings will be, so there's no mystery or surprise when you cash in. I guess players can feel good about that. I'd be glad to win, regardless. It would be far more than I've ever won playing any lottery game.
Why don't they get rid of the false and misleading advertising?
According to the googly the state income tax in North Carolina is 3.99% and the top Fed rate is 37% so the only way the NC lottery could assure a million after taxes is to set the actual prize at $1,694,628 as that multiplied by the.5901 tax rate nets a true million.
For alot of people it would be more than a million, of course, because they are not in the 37% fed bracket already.
To end the misleading name they should change it to $1,000,000 taxes withheld.
But transparency is only what the lotteries claim they want.
All lotteries should offer anonymity and no taxes on the prizes.
Awesome. I've been talking about this for years. It always bothered me when they advertised that someone won a million or how many millionaires were made every month even though they didn't actually get a million dollars. Hopefully other state lotteries will follow suit.
Let the average person get to feel what it is like to actually have a million dollars even if it won't last long. To just be able to see a million dollars deposited and cleared. Yeah I like this initiative. All taxes paid. But why stop there. Do it for fantasy 5 too lol