(Image courtesy of Washington’s Lottery)
Powerball fever is sweeping the nation with the estimated prize now a record $1.6 billion, and all the extra ticket sales that come with such a huge jackpot have benefits for the state.
The new record is the result of big ticket sales, says Washington’s Lottery’s legal services director, Kristi Weeks, who says they normally sell about $2.5 million worth of tickets a day for games, but just Wednesday, she says, “We sold $7.2 million in tickets. $4.6 million of that was just Powerball.”
So where does that money go?
Weeks says two-thirds of it comes back in prizes big and small. She says it’s a common misconception that lottery profits to go K-through-12 schools. Weeks says they don’t, but $186 million in 2021 paid for 25% of early child education and college scholarships and grants. “So in fiscal year ’21,” Weeks says, “we paid to send 18,000 people to college.”
Weeks says it’s important to sign the back of your ticket or it’s the same as cash, which means who has it could claim your prize. With a jackpot this big, you’d have to go to the Lottery office in Olympia to claim it, but Weeks says you have 180 days from the day of the drawing to make some decisions and get things in order. Weeks says you’ll need to decide whether you want the prize in annual payments over 30 years or if you want to take the lump sum amount. Either way, Weeks says 24% comes off the top in federal taxes. There’s no Washington State income tax, but whichever option you choose, you’ll be in the highest bracket, so you’ll also pay 37% in federal income tax, so that will eat up a lot of the money. She recommends hiring a lawyer and an accountant, among the professionals you might want to consider. And if that’s not enough to think about, if you choose the yearly payments, they’re not equal amounts over 30 years. You do walk out of the Lottery office with your first check, and then with Powerball and MegaMillions, the payment amounts go up by 5% a year until you’re paid off.
Washington is one of the states legally required to make the names, city of residence and winning amounts for large prizes public record, so you won’t get to remain anonymous, but there’s also no rule that says you would have to talk to any news media.
You can see more with Kristi Weeks of Washington’s Lottery in the video below:
