Jackpots in the two largest U.S. lotteries keep climbing — with a combined jackpot that now exceeds $735 million.
The Mega Millions jackpot is now $382 million, and the Powerball jackpot, $356 million, after drawings this week failed to yield winners for either game's top prize. It's the first time U.S. lottery players have a choice of games with jackpots topping $300 million.
(The next Mega Millions drawing is at 11 p.m. ET on Friday; Powerball, 10:59 p.m. ET on Saturday.)
If the prize amount doesn't go up before the next drawing, the Mega Millions jackpot would be the sixth largest in the game's history.
The most recent big Mega Millions win — $536 million in July 2016 — was the third largest in the game's history, and the seventh largest in any U.S. lottery. It was the most ever awarded to a single Mega Millions winner, and the highest cash-value jackpot awarded to a single winner in a U.S. lottery.
At $356 million, the Powerball jackpot is the 14th largest in the game's history, and the 21st largest in U.S. lottery. (Cracking the top 10 for Powerball would require the jackpot to exceed the $425.3 million prize the game awarded to a single winner in February 2014.)
Of course, the odds of winning either game are slim (see graphic below), and winning both the Powerball and MegaMillions pools, even more unlikely. An analysis from Allstate's data science team put the odds of snaring both at roughly 1 in 75 quadrillion.
If you are lucky enough to pick the winning combo for either of this week's drawings, you won't walk away with the full amount.
Lottery site USAMega.com estimates the federal tax withholding on the $238.3 million lump sum would be nearly $60 million, and state taxes could knock out up to another $21 million (with New York the worst offender). For the Powerball, those tax tallies for the $224 million cash prize would be $56 million and up to $19.7 million, respectively.
Those figures are just the amounts withheld up front; your final tax burden is likely to be even higher.