Mega Millions jackpot soars to $514 million. When’s the next drawing?
A lucky lotto player could celebrate the holiday season awash in cash if they win the massive Mega Millions jackpot.
The current Mega Millions pot is $514 million with the next drawing set for Friday. The last drawing for the jackpot was on Tuesday, but no one hit the numbers needed to take home the big prize.
The tenth largest Mega Millions jackpot was $552 million, putting the current prize about $38 million south of breaking into the top 10 largest pots, according to Nexstar.
Since lotteries are essentially voluntary taxes on players, the actual payout for winning the jackpot isn't the real take-home pay. The IRS, and local governments where the winning ticket is sold get a serious chunk of the cash.
With an approximately $514 million prize, the cash payout would be about $241 million, according to Today. The winner can expect to lose about $90 million to federal taxes, then more if their state has a state income tax as well.
And that's if one winner takes all. Money is divvied up with multiple winners.
Winners may see their lives flipped upside down, and not always in a positive way. Only a few states allow jackpot winners to protect their anonymity, leaving others to fend off money pleas from friends, relatives and grifters.
Most players will never have to worry about that.
According to the Mega Millions website, a player has a 1 in 302,575,350 chance to match all five white balls plus landing a golden Mega Ball.
The next Mega Millions drawing will be on Black Friday, November 29, at 11 p.m. EDT.
