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The Powerball grew over the weekend to nearly $2 billion, after no winning tickets were sold in Saturday night’s drawing.
The $1.9 billion jackpot is the world’s largest lottery prize ever offered, with an estimated cash value of $929.1 million, according to Powerball, but the odds of winning are just 1 in 292.2 million.
It comes after Saturday’s $1.6 billion Powerball, which had a lump-sum option of an estimated $782.4 million, broke ‘the world record for the largest national lottery jackpot in the Guinness World Records,’ according to the California Lottery.
The Guinness World Records’ ‘Greatest jackpot in a national lottery’ had previously ben set by the Powerball in January 2016, when three tickets won a $1.586 billion jackpot.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
The next drawing for the $1.9 billion jackpot is Monday at 10.59pm EST.
DailyMail.com is here to break down any questions you may have about the lottery.
A massive amount of the record-breaking $1.9 billion jackpot will be gobbled up in federal tax
Monday’s Powerball lottery hit a world record-breaking $1.9 billion jackpot
How many tickets have already been sold?
It is unclear how many tickets have been sold for the $1.9 billion lottery, but nearly 11 million tickets in Saturday’s $1.6 billion jackpot won cash prizes.
The record-breaking lottery set off a frenzy of people trying their luck at the $1.6 billion prize with Franklin and Oneida counties in Idaho — which draws in gamblers from nearby Utah — ticket sales were up 597 percent this week, according to the New York Times.
About 280 million tickets were sold for Saturday’s draw
How much of the jackpot would go to taxes?
Federal tax could eat up a massive 37 percent of the jackpot – and that’s before further taxes in some states.
The total federal tax on the $1.9billion annuity would come to more than $700million across the 30-year period.
Federal tax on the lump sum of $929million would be nearly $345million, according to usamega.com.
Then there are state taxes to consider.
How much a lottery winner would pay in taxes would vary greatly depending on which state they live in, as some states have state taxes while others do not.
For example, someone living in New York State, which does have an income tax, would have to pay another 8.82 percent to the state. There are further taxes for those who live in New York City, too.
That would amount to around $100 million to the state government.
But if a lottery winner lives in Florida, which does not have a state tax, they would only have to pay federal taxes.
What would happen if I split the prize with my co-workers or friends?
Going in on an office lottery pool may increase your chances of winning, as more tickets could be bought when more people chip in.
However, the jackpot would then have to be split amongst all the participants — and betters would want to make sure their coworkers are being honest.
Attorneys suggest anyone who gets in an office pool or buys tickets with a group of friends create a written agreement specifying how much each person would put into buy the tickets and how much each person will receive if they win.
Without such an agreement, attorney Alicia McMurray told 10 News, the person in possession of the physical ticket could cash it without telling you and refuse to share the money.
But if you have a written agreement, you can sue.
It is unclear how many tickets have been sold for the $1.9 billion lottery
How can I maximize my chances of winning the Powerball?
There are many theories about how you could best increase your chances of winning the lottery.
Some people will say it is best to buy lottery tickets more regularly, while others suggest using ‘lucky numbers’ like your children’s birthdays and others, still, say it is better to use the QuickPick feature where numbers are randomly selected.
But the only surefire way to maximize your chances is by buying more tickets per each game, Harvard statistics professor Dr. Mark Glickman previously told CNBC.
At the same time, though, buying more tickets means that ‘the investment you make by playing multiple games also goes up, and the payoffs in a real lottery vary,’ said Dr Lew Lefton, a faculty member of Georgia Tech’s School of Mathematics.
In other words, investing more money into a higher number of tickets may not always be worth the expense.
‘My advice is don’t play the lottery and expect to win,’ he told CNBC. ‘That said, it can be fun to play the lottery and imagine you win.
‘That’s a different approach, and it’s just like any other gambling: You should only be willing to spend what you can afford to lose.’
Certain numbers have been drawn more frequently than others — but all have an equal chance of being drawn
What are the most common and rarest numbers ever drawn?
All combinations of numbers have the same chance of winning — but certain numbers have been drawn more times than others.
Over the past seven years, CBS 8 reports, the 10 most common numbers to drawn on the five white balls for the Powerball are:
- 61 — drawn 78 times
- 32 — drawn 77 times
- 63 — drawn 73 times
- 21 — drawn 73 times
- 69 — drawn 71 times
- 36 — drawn 70 times
- 23 — drawn 70 times
- 39 — drawn 69 times
- 63 — drawn 69 times
- 59 — drawn 68 times
And the 10 most common numbers drawn for the red Powerball over the past seven years are:
- 24 — drawn 45 times
- 18 — drawn 42 times
- 4 — drawn 36 times
- 13 — drawn 34 times
- 21 — drawn 34 times
- 10 — drawn 33 times
- 6 — drawn 33 times
- 26 — drawn 33 times
- 19 — drawn 32 times
- 3 — drawn 32 times
Two numbers are tied as the least-drawn main numbers in the last seven years, according to CBS 8: 34 and 26, both drawn just 44 times.
How would I go about claiming my money?
Powerball suggests that if you find yourself the lucky winner, you sign the back of your ticket to prove you are the rightful owner in the case it is lost or stolen.
To collect any prizes $600 and over, winners must visit a local district office or lottery headquarters. The claim period for Powerball pries differs by state, and can range anywhere from 90 days to one year.
Winners can then choose to have the prize paid in a lump sum or in 30 graduated payments over 29 years.
States oversee lottery operations and have different rules for how winnings are taxed and whether the names of the winners must be made public.
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