One lucky person in Illinois is now $560 million richer after winning the Mega Millions jackpot on Tuesday night, making it the fourth largest lottery prize of the year. However, they will end up with a smaller amount once taxes are deducted.
The ticket sold in Illinois was the sole winner that matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night by Mega Millions: 19, 37, 40, 63, 69, and the gold Mega Ball 17.
The lucky winner is now faced with a decision: they can either opt for the $560 million jackpot, which will be paid out over 30 years, or they can choose the lump sum cash prize of $264 million. Typically, most winners prefer the latter option.
The cash prize will decrease to approximately $201 million once a mandatory federal tax withholding of 24% is subtracted.
The winner could potentially encounter a federal marginal rate of up to 37% based on their taxable income, which would then reduce their winnings to $166.3 million.
With the installment option, the recipient of the winning ticket will receive approximately $11.75 million annually after the 37% federal marginal rate is deducted from the original $18.7 million.
Illinois also deducts 4.95% from all lottery winnings.
The person who bought the winning ticket beat the extremely low odds of 1 in 302.6 million to become the Mega Millions jackpot winner.
Conclusion:
Tuesday’s win marks the fourth-largest lottery prize of the year and the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot claimed in year. Earlier in March, a lucky individual in New Jersey won a $1.13 billion Mega Millions jackpot with a single ticket. Shortly after, a ticket buyer from Oregon won a Powerball jackpot totaling $1.3 billion.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot prize in history was $1.602 billion, won in August of last year by a lucky ticket holder from Florida.