Powerball reaches $643 million: highest lottery jackpot of 2025

Comment #58

CDanaT — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 09:41:50 GMT

Actually MsBee18.....If you are single, its not the top half that is at 37%, that figure is $626,351.00 and up, for this tax year. I have attached the following for your review

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2024/10/22/irs-announces-2025-tax-brackets-standard-deductions-and-other-inflation-adjustments/

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-releases-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2025

I wasn't trying to be perfectly exact when commenting on the initial Million with... [ More ]

Comment #57

MsBee18 — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 17:04:14 GMT

CDanaT,

On a million dollar payout only the top half is taxed at 37%. Each tax bracket is tiered.

Comment #56

CDanaT — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 15:31:52 GMT

There isn't any state that if you win a million dollars that you only receive $460K. If they make you take the annuity to reach the million, You still get the Million dollars minus applicable taxes. If they are saying you get a cash option(such as the PB/MM provides) that is always a reduced amount. We have that in TN on the Scratch offs. You win a reduced amount for the 1 time sum.

Federal income taxes are 37% on a million or a billion or a trillion, your state income taxes are never 17%(y... [ More ]

Comment #55

billybucks — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 14:53:43 GMT

I just based it on if you win a million you end up with 460k on average in most states. So if you do the same math a billion gets you a net 460m if you take the cash option. Maybe they don't take as much on a billion dollar hit. Win it and then get back to us about that. I am basing tax bite on the cash value not the billion.

Comment #54

CDanaT — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 13:59:41 GMT

Taxes on a billion is $370 Million(37%)....What state do you live in that has an additional 17% state income tax to come up to the $540 Million in taxes ?

Even N.Y. with an additional 10.9% doesn't come close to 17%

https://www.usamega.com/powerball/jackpot

Comment #53

billybucks — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 13:46:59 GMT

Which is true but you win a billion and 540 million going to taxes makes it feel like you were cheated some. It just seems like too much they take. I think 25% would be fairer.

Comment #52

CDanaT — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 13:39:28 GMT

And the more money you get to play with or keep

Comment #51

billybucks — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 13:33:42 GMT

The higher the jackpot the more taxes you will have to pay.

Comment #50

KY Floyd — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 05:32:25 GMT

It went to a billion!

And it even did it with a slight reduction in the interest rate, so the cash value is $453.1 million. Moving up to #17 requires another $18 million or an advertised $1.04. They might have bumped it to a billion because it a nice round number and probably sells more tickets that $990 million! but if it's a genuine estimate it should be a bit conservative so 1.04 seems possible.

Comment #49

PrisonerSix — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 15:38:36 GMT

It went to a billion

Comment #48

mightwin1 — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 09:54:12 GMT

That's true....It should just be a Top Ten list at this point

Comment #47

KY Floyd — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 21:07:00 GMT

We should get one now...lol

We don't really need one, because the text will be mostly the same, and there will be just a minor revision to the list. With 3 days for sales it's very unlikely we'll see any update to the advertised jackpot until around noon tomorrow, but I'll revise the list based on an even billion.

Assuming the interest rate doesn't change the cash value of $451.5 would be #18, about $1 million ahead of the current #18. For any cheerleaders that think the annuity matter... [ More ]

Comment #46

mightwin1 — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 19:14:27 GMT

Or not......Maybe its switching to top 10

Comment #45

mightwin1 — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 07:46:28 GMT

We should get one now...lol

Comment #44

KY Floyd — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 06:07:11 GMT

It rolled, and there's a very good chance it will be past the billion mark when the drawing happens. NY has been showing the final amount on the results page, and Monday's jackpot is reported as $776.7 million. That's a jump of $60.9 million over the previous drawing and Mondays have the worst increases, typically being less than the previous Wednesday to Saturday increase. For Wednesday's drawing the original $815 million seemed very conservative, and at a reported $861.2 million we got an incr... [ More ]

Comment #43

mightwin1 — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 21:43:38 GMT

If it rolls I would think it would be a Billion, but will probably be just a tad shy of it. Time will tell....Good luck to everyone tonight

Comment #42

PrisonerSix — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 15:54:50 GMT

It's now $850million annuity/$383.7million cash. Might have to get another ticket.

Comment #41

KY Floyd — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 20:24:40 GMT

Maybe another billion is coming!

There roughly a 1 in 3 chance it will roll past $1 billion (to perhaps $1.1 billion).

Oopsie. I realized a while after posting that 1 in 3 seemed way too low with the advertised jackpot already at $815 million. I had updated some older info and accidentally included probabilities for two drawings that already rolled.

The PB worksheet on the Texas lottery website is estimating coverage of combinations for the next five drawings as (starting with tomo... [ More ]

Comment #40

CDanaT — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 15:24:40 GMT

A billion is an eye opener, that is for sure !! But $815M Annuity/367.9M CASH is in a pretty nice neighborhood for a $2 investment.

Good luck to all of us on Wednesday

Comment #39

mightwin1 — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 15:13:22 GMT

I guess it has to be at least a Billion for people to get excited now...... .

Comment #38

hearsetrax — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 09:03:58 GMT

keep growing hehehe

Comment #37

KY Floyd — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 07:43:41 GMT

Maybe another billion is coming!

There roughly a 1 in 3 chance it will roll past $1 billion (to perhaps $1.1 billion). If sales are a bit better and it gets there one drawing sooner there's about a 40% chance it could just barely get past $1 billion. I could scrape by with it, but the cash value at an even billion is only $451 million, assuming interest rates don't change.

Comment #36

CDanaT — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 05:02:54 GMT

Time for a new top 25 listing

Comment #35

mightwin1 — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 04:14:24 GMT

Keep on rolling.....

Comment #34

PrisonerSix — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 17:40:09 GMT

I bought 3 fot the last draw too and won nothing but did win $8 on the draw before that.

Comment #33

IAmABadOne — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 07:17:49 GMT

I bought 4 tickets and won nothing. But, this time it was *close*.

When I picked the lines to play out of my list of plays that I have ready to go, I missed a 2nd prize hit. The line was in my list with all 5 white balls, but I did not play it. The Powerballs are not in the list but are added randomly or manually by me at the time of printing the playslips or by letting the lottery terminal add them randomly at purchase. So, either way, that line I did not choose to play had a 1 in 26 chance... [ More ]

Comment #32

PrisonerSix — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 04:26:59 GMT

Bought 3 tickets today. Hoping for a miracle.

Comment #31

hearsetrax — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 23:08:09 GMT

one can only hope P6 LOL

best of luck every one

Comment #30

PrisonerSix — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 22:59:57 GMT

It rolled again! Maybe another billion is coming

Comment #29

KY Floyd — Sat, 23 Aug 2025 06:33:12 GMT

The annual increases in the annuity payment makes the proportion of lump sum to annuity smaller.

Right, but you're reversing the cause and the effect. The graduated payments inflate the annuity, making it bigger than it would be with fixed payments. The flip side to that is that with fixed payments the proportion of annuity to lump sum is smaller. Every dollar in the prize pool (the cause) buys less annuity value (the effect).

Of course, the lump sum is the real number since it's based... [ More ]

Comment #28

Think — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 19:20:19 GMT

I don't know if my post was that clear but I meant those as advertised annuity values.

Anyway good luck to all who are throwing their money away at these fake jackpot levels.

Comment #27

CDanaT — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:54:41 GMT

While I have yet to set my buy in point that high. I am running a reasonably tight 2nd.

PB - $200,000,000.00 Cash Value

MM - $500,000,000.00 Cash/ $1.11 Billion Annuity

Good luck to all of us this coming Saturday, if you are a participant

Comment #26

billybucks — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:23:17 GMT

Most players are well over 60 however outside of the instant gratification scratch off card players. Others don't trust them to keep sending the checks yearly which is silly. Most kind of want all that cash at once. It is just a better feeling. Most know they are going to squander most of it anyway and don't care.

Comment #25

Wildbill78 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:01:37 GMT

I totally agree with you but if you concern about them taking so much money after you win you can just take the installments which around $14 million a year for 30 years and net around $420 million if that makes you feel better. It's way better than $189 Million in my state and I'm young so I can deal with living off $14 million a year. Just a thought

Comment #24

Tucker Black — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 13:18:07 GMT

I'm surprised that you got that completely backwards. With fixed annual payments the advertised annuity would be less than the inflated advertising value they get by keeping more money invested for a longer time. Of course advertising that smaller annuity would almost certainly reduce sales a bit, making both the cash and annuity even smaller after any given number of rolls. They tell us the graduated annuity makes sense because of inflation, but I feel very confident that that's strictly PR abo... [ More ]

Comment #23

hearsetrax — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:15:50 GMT

imagine that, another roll over ROFL

Comment #22

KY Floyd — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 07:43:25 GMT

Yep it's not even a top 25 jackpot per the cash value.

What really matters is that the advertised annuity is #23 but the cash that a winner will almost certainly take is only #37. It's getting there, but as of now this one isn't a huge jackpot in terms of the biggest jackpots of the last few years.

The 5% annual increase in payments makes the lump sum even less than it would be with constant annual payments.

I'm surprised that you got that completely backwards. With fixed annual pa... [ More ]

Comment #21

ShagE3 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:23:15 GMT

Ho hum . . 35 rollovers and not even three quarters of a $ billion $. We should be in $ 1+ billion $ territory already historically speaking .

I have one word to sum up my thoughts: LIVERWURST. Time for a sandwich????

The Shagmeister has spoken.

Peace and prosperity to all

Comment #20

Think — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:09:37 GMT

Speaking of Jokepots someone at the Michigan State Lottery has a sense of humor

....$73,000,000

Comment #19

PrisonerSix — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 23:49:45 GMT

I'll take it

Comment #18

noise-gate — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:59:06 GMT

* You got that right, and why not? They that contribute the most get the spoils. It s as it should be.

* Let's get real: Every single jackpot won by folks in other States got there by the generosity of CA pouring in the lion's share. One can get upset with facts, but facts are facts.

Comment #17

Justing618 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:19:52 GMT

I noticed this. Why has it changed

Comment #16

JustMaybe — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:04:04 GMT

I won't let a can of pop, an ice cream cone, or a Starbucks coffee stand between me and $183,120,980.

I am off to get my ticket

Comment #15

billybucks — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:51:00 GMT

No, how and why would they pull out and hide money paid into it. The overall interest has somewhat waned with some lottery fatigue thrown in along with they all seem to like hearing when it hits a billion and that perks up their interest so they wait. As if 500m isn't enough for anyone.

Comment #14

heisenberg991 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 19:47:43 GMT

Somebody from Cali gonna win tonight. I may have to move there.

Comment #13

Bleudog101 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 18:00:27 GMT

Got to my Cardiologist's office an hour early today. Took me back almost immediately and said going to stop @ a store on the way home to play Powerball and Mega Millions since I was feeling lucky. Normally don't go out of my way to play there...but it was on the way home and the LED jackpot sign beckoned me to play there

Comment #12

Droptop209 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:10:55 GMT

Goodbye 1995 Honda Accord. Hello 2026 Lotus Emira.

Comment #11

Hjq82788 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 17:01:33 GMT

It makes you think that they are holding back alot of money from the jackpot.. it should have crossed a billion already

Comment #10

Tucker Black — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:50:12 GMT

The 5% annual increase in payments makes the lump sum even less than it would be with constant annual payments. It pushes more money further into the future to be discounted for interest a longer time.

Comment #9

billybucks — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:15:23 GMT

Depends on how many years you have left to play them. Your buy in points are a little too steep for you to get involved in very many of them down the road I believe. You need to play more other games and win one to sustain you until you see one grow to your acceptance level.

Comment #8

MsBee18 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:04:26 GMT

I'd like to see this posted when the cash/annuity are both in the Top 25. Article is premature in my opinion. The cash amount is underwhelming. I won't be playing this Saturday. But good luck to all who are .

Comment #7

Think — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 15:02:47 GMT

Yep it's not even a top 25 jackpot per the cash value.

My current buy ins at these after tax jackpots and ticket prices are $750,000,000 for Powerball and 2,500,000,000 for mega millions.

Maybe Todd can start a Jokepot list starting with this one as the number one Jokepot. There are plenty of other games to play until the Jokepots get high enough To buy into

Comment #6

CDanaT — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 14:07:14 GMT

Quite the difference between the #2 all time Annuity jackpot and the one for tonight.

Same game, same starting point, same price per ticket

1 rollover difference and a mere $1,121,900,000 less in value

Comment #5

JADELottery — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 14:01:54 GMT

We moved from MN

Minnesota: 7.25% state tax withheld- $1,553,917 - $21,068,500

Add'l state taxes due (9.85% final rate)- $557,267 - $7,555,600

Your average net per year: $11,434,796 Your net payout: $154,496,880

After 30 payments: $343,043,880

To IA

Iowa: 3.8% state tax- $814,467 - $11,042,800

Your average net per year: $12,731,513 Your net payout: $172,078,180

After 30 payments: $381,945,390

from www.usamega.com

Good thing, tha... [ More ]

Comment #4

EnReval — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 13:30:57 GMT

$184,996,000 more than what I have now.am ready

Comment #3

islandgirl5 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 13:24:23 GMT

And if someone wins depending on what state you live in, the check you will get will be no more than $185,000,000 which is absolutely absurd.

Comment #2

hearsetrax — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 13:12:59 GMT

Comment #1

noise-gate — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 12:37:56 GMT

* This is the best lottery news for a Wednesday.

Powerball reaches $643 million: highest lottery jackpot of 2025

Lottery Post — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 12:10:51 GMT

Largest Powerball grand prize in more than a year surpasses half-billion mark

By Kate Northrop

The Powerball jackpot continues its reign as the highest lottery prize of 2025 after it reached an estimated $643 million following the drawing on Monday night.

After no one won the grand prize in the drawing on Aug. 18, the Powerball jackpot climbed well over the half-billion threshold, making it the biggest lottery jackpot this year so far.

Ever since Cheng Charlie Saephan won the $1.... [ More ]