By Pamela Cruz and Karina Alvarado
The U.S. Mega Millions lottery has a prize pool of over $1 billion for anyone who matches all six winning numbers, which will be drawn this Friday, July 29 at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
The $1.25 billion at stake is due to the fact that in the last 29 draws there has not been a winning ticket, so the prize has been increasing, becoming so far the fourth largest prize in the history of the lottery in the country and the second largest in Mega Millions.
The game's top prize was $1.537 billion and was won in October 2018 in South Carolina, according to megamillions.com.
The winning numbers for last Tuesday's draw were 7-29-60-63-66, Mega Ball 15.
However, users can not only aspire to the grand prize, but if they guess at least 6 numbers correctly, they will be entitled to a prize that can reach one million dollars.
"The Mega Millions community, and indeed much of the country, is eagerly awaiting tonight's drawing," said Pat McDonald, Mega Millions' managing director.
Tickets cost $2 and players can add the Megaplier for an additional $1 to multiply their non-jackpot prizes and can be purchased on the website or at various convenience stores.
You don't need to be a resident to win
According to the Mega Millions website, foreigners can also participate in the game, however, they must be within the country since tickets are sold only in the U.S. Additionally, it is important to consider that taxes increase for those who are not citizens of the country.
"Visitors to the United States are always welcome to purchase tickets for our game from a U.S. lottery retailer while visiting the country; you do not need to be a resident to win," the site notes.
How to play Mega Millions, the US lottery?
You must buy a $2 ticket and choose six numbers. To win, you must match all the numbers.
The first 5 numbers, ranging from 1 to 70, are white balls, but the last number, which ranges from 1 to 25, is called the Golden Mega Ball. Once you have all of them correct, it's time to shout ¡Lotería!
It is worth noting that states such as Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah do not have Mega Millions, but their residents can play in any other state or online, and if they win, they would have to collect their prize in the state where they bought the ticket.
What happens if you win? How do I get paid?
While the odds of winning are 1 in more than 302.5 million, you never know, so trying your luck could make you a multimillionaire.
If luck knocks on your door and you win the billion-dollar prize, you will have to consider some details.
If you win, you will be presented with two options: cash payment or annual payment. In the first case, this means getting a sum of money immediately, in which case the winner would be offered a one-time payment of $602.5 million.
For the annual payment, the winner would receive a first payment immediately, and the rest spread over 29 annual installments. In that case, by the end of those almost three decades, the prize would have reached 1.02 billion dollars.
Death and taxes
It is well known that there are two things that humans cannot avoid: death and taxes. In the case of the lottery, taxes take a good cut.
By opting for a single payment for the prize, the $1.25 billion is automatically subtracted by almost 60 percent for lottery commission, which would leave the prize at $602.5 million in cash.
From that $602.5 million, 24 percent must be subtracted for federal taxes on lottery prizes where the winnings are greater than $5,000, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Therefore, $144.6 million must be subtracted from the prize of more than $600 million.
But there's more: Additional federal income taxes must be subtracted from that $602.5 million. In this case, the top federal marginal tax rate for 2022 is 37 percent for individual taxpayers with incomes over $539,900 and for married couples filing jointly with incomes over $647,850, according to the IRS.
So, in the example we've been looking at, the $602.5 million prize would have to be subtracted by the missing 13 percent to arrive at 37 percent of the top federal marginal income tax rate—since 24 percent of the first federal tax has already been deducted. In short, you need to subtract another $78.3 million from your prize.
With these federal taxes accounted for, the prize originally worth more than $1 billion and for which he was to receive $602.5 million would be reduced to $379.6 million.
But state taxes still need to be subtracted from that $379.6 million, if they apply in the U.S. state where the Mega Millions ticket was purchased.
Anyway, with a little luck, this Friday you could go to bed knowing you're a millionaire!
With information from CNN.
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