US Powerball jackpot climbs to record $1.9B

ANKARA

The Powerball jackpot in the US has climbed to a record $1.9 billion and will be up for grabs at Monday night's drawing.

The prize has been climbing since Aug. 3 and now ranks as the largest lottery amount in US history.

The latest amount has been snowballing through thrice-weekly drawings since Aug. 3, when a ticket in the state of Pennsylvania hit more than a $206 million jackpot.

If someone is lucky enough to hit all six numbers, the jackpot ticket leaves them with two options -- taking $1.9 billion as an annuity spread over three decades or receiving a sum of $929 million in cash.

Hitting all six numbers in a single ticket for the Powerball jackpot has the probability of 1 in 292 million, while tickets cost $2 per play.

The winner also has to deal with taxes under various options and based on various state laws.

There is a 24% federal tax for the cash option, which would trim the $929 million by $223 million, leaving the winner with $706 million.

The annuitized option, on the other hand, would be taxed based on that year's current rates.

In addition, there are state taxes, ranging from 0% to over 10% depending on the state and whether it taxes lottery winnings or not.

The biggest prize ever won by a single ticket in the US came in the October 2018 Mega Millions drawing that stood at $1.5 billion at the time, with the winner in South Carolina opting for a cash prize of more than $877 million.

In Powerball, a prize of over $768 million in March 2019 went to a single winner in Wisconsin. In January 2016, three winners saw a jackpot of almost $1.6 billion divided among themselves.