A Massachusetts resident has won the biggest payday of their, and anyone else’s, lives, taking home the US Powerball grand prize, set at a whopping $759 Million (AUD$964 million). It is the biggest lottery win to ever be awarded to a single person.
It doesn’t take the title of the biggest win ever for the flagship American lottery, though. That goes to a January 2016 draw with a jackpot of $1.6 billion (AUD$2.03 billion). However, that prize was divided between three different winners, in contrast to today’s sole lucky bugger.
The lottery draw had been making news in the States for the past week as the jackpot hit the gargantuan figure. Yet many pundits thought that it would not be won, or if it would, it’d be divided among a group of winners. If the Powerball had remained unclaimed, the jackpot would have risen to $1 billion (AUS$1.27 billion).
Of course, we don’t have to think about that, as now some lucky duck has to choose between getting the full figure in split payments over a set amount of years, or as a reduced lump sump. Either way, it’s expected that a large fraction of their winnings will go straight to the tax office, as they immediately trampoline themselves into the highest US tax bracket.
Also worth noting that an additional 9.4 million (yes, million) people won money in lower divisions, with those smaller winnings totalling $135 million (AUD$171.5 million).
Of course, all of this news has resulted in some very, very jealous Yanks over on Twitter.
Me before #Powerball numbers are drawn: It’s all about the fun of the game, guys. Don’t take it too seriously
Me after numbers are drawn: pic.twitter.com/8A573r1AsG— @SaintBellerina 🇺🇸 (@SaintBellerina) August 24, 2017
Wen u heard someone in Massachusetts won #Powerball pic.twitter.com/92Y7dQKfgc
— Dougg (@Always__Doug) August 24, 2017
Someone in Massachusetts is waking up a #powerball winner this morning. The rest of us are going back to work. Mmkay. pic.twitter.com/GMKQoJdaYw
— Paris Carerra (@pariscarerra) August 24, 2017
https://twitter.com/thetigersez/status/900571220160139265
The Powerball will reset next week to a base jackpot of $40 million (AUD$50.8 million).
And for the record: the winning numbers were 6, 7, 16, 23 and 26, and the Powerball number was 4. Make of those numbers what you will.
