By Raúl Rodríguez Cota
Mar 27, 2024, 11:31 AM EDT
One lucky lottery player finally hit the first Mega Millions jackpot of $1.13 billion, but now he faces a tough decision: how he’ll cash out.
The winner of the multi-million dollar prize, originally from New Jersey, matched the six white ball numbers drawn on Tuesday night, which were 7, 11, 22, 29 and 38.
He also correctly guessed the Gold Mega Ball, which was 4, meaning he took home the jackpot that had been rising for over 15 weeks.
This was the fifth largest jackpot in the history of the game.
However, he now faces a difficult decision that could mean waiting for years to collect all the money, although he could also have half of the prize immediately.
And, when winners of huge prizes make their payment at lottery headquarters, they must make a decision based on taxes.
The winner can take home a lump sum of cash immediately with taxes already paid.
In this case, you would have a grand sum of $537.5 million, but this is only half the value of the jackpot.
If the winner wishes to have the full amount, i.e. $1.13 billion, they are offered the option of annuity payments.
That is, the jackpot is divided into annual payments for 30 years.
Although this protects winners against high inflation, they will be charged 24% each year in federal tax.
It is not yet known what decision the winner of the latest Mega Millions jackpot will make.
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