Winning The Lottery Will Not Make you Rich Or Happy
The Mega Millions lottery jackpot has reached $1.6 billion this week after the last 25 drawings have failed to yield a winner. According to Market Watch, this ties with the largest lottery grand prize the U.S. has ever seen when Powerball also reached $1.6 billion back in 2016.
Unfortunately, your odds of winning this jackpot are tiny.
In fact, you are 400 times more likely to be hit by lightning.
But, what if you beat the 1 and 303 million odds and wake up on Wednesday morning holding the single winning Mega Millions ticket.
It Might Make You Rich, But Not For Long
The first thing to keep in mind is that even if you are lucky enough to hold the winning ticket, you will not receive $1.6 billion in cash anytime soon.
If you hold the only winning ticket you will be allowed to choose either a lump sum payout of about $905 million or receive you’re entire $1.6 billion in annual payments over the next 30 years.
Oh, and the IRS will take their cut.
If you are lucky enough to live in Florida or Texas you will pay $217 million in federal taxes leaving you $688 million. Living in NYC could cost you big time adding another $115 million in state and local taxes.
