Lottery jackpot cracked: But player doesn't get $800 million paid out in full

A Powerball ticket wins $800 million in the USA. The winner now has to make an important decision – which can cost him a lot of money.

Munich – A lottery player from Michigan (USA) was particularly lucky at the beginning of the year: He won the “Powerball” jackpot worth 800 million US dollars New York Times reported. The jackpot had not previously been won over 34 rounds and had been accumulating since October 2023. The winner, who correctly guessed the numbers 5 out of 69 and the Powerball from 29 balls, bought his lucky ticket in a supermarket in the 8,000-person village of Grand Blanc.

The odds of winning were an impressive one in 292.2 million. For comparison: In the German lottery “6 out of 49”, the chance of winning is more than twice as high at one in 139.8 million. The decision as to whether the lucky person wants to collect the winnings immediately or in installments is still pending. But there is a catch.

Lotto jackpot cracked: But winner in the USA doesn't get $800 million paid out in full

It is still unclear who won the mega jackpot of $800 million (the equivalent of almost 750 million euros). The winner has not yet redeemed the lottery ticket. The fact is that he or she also has a hard decision to make: If you win the lottery in the USA with such high winnings in the “Powerball” lottery, you can either have the jackpot paid out in installments – or only a part of it. In this case, it would be around $400 million, which is due immediately. But then the rest would have to be forgone.

Such mega jackpots would not be possible in the lottery in Germany. The maximum lottery jackpot is capped in this country. Although the maximum winning amount was increased again by five million euros in November 2023, the cap is still “only” 50 million euros. The Eurojackpot has an upper limit of 120 million euros.

USA is the country of super jackpots

Huge jackpots have become increasingly common in Mega Millions and Powerball multistate lottery drawings as the games have changed over the years and ticket prices have increased. For both lotteries, nine jackpots in the USA have exceeded the $1 billion mark since 2016 – including four in 2023 alone.

In January 2023, a single ticket holder in Maine won the fourth-largest lottery prize in U.S. history, a “Mega Millions” jackpot worth $1.35 billion. Over the summer, two different tickets won billion-dollar jackpots: In California on July 19, a Powerball ticket won $1.08 billion, and in Florida on August 9, a single ticket won a Mega Millions jackpot of $1, 58 billion dollars. And in October, a single Powerball ticket sold in California won $1.765 billion, making it the second-largest lottery jackpot in the United States. (ls)

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