Feeling lucky?
After no winning ticket was sold during Friday's drawing Tuesday's Mega Millions jackpot, worth an estimated $820 million, is the fifth largest in the history of the game, lottery officials said.
In the highly unlikely case that you win — the odds are 1 in 302.5 million — you'll have the choice of two payout options. You can take either the full jackpot amount as an annuity spread out over 29 years, or an upfront lump sum worth just over half the jackpot amount.
And then come the taxes.
For either payout option, you'll pay an automatic 24% federal withholding tax on your winnings. However, winning millions of dollars will put you in the top bracket, which levies a 37% tax for income of $578,126 or more. That means you'd almost certainly pay another 13% in taxes when you file a 2023 tax return.
You also have to pay state taxes, which vary based on where you live. While eight states don't charge income tax on lottery winnings, Illinois isn't one of them.
Assuming a top federal tax rate of 37%, here's the after-tax amount you'd take home in Illinois:
- Lump sum: $245,008,045
- Annuity: $477,121,350
Sure, the odds are stacked against you. But hitting the jackpot certainly isn't impossible.
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Last July, a $1.34 billion Mega Millions ticket was sold in Illinois, at a gas station in suburban Des Plaines. Months later, the winners came forward to claim the prize -- the largest ever won in the state, and the third largest in U.S. history, Illinois lottery officials said.
So far this year, four Illinois Lottery players have won $1 million or more with Mega Millions, according to officials.
If you do happen to strike gold in Tuesday's 10 p.m. drawing, the Illinois Lottery recommends these three pieces of advice:
- Sign your lottery ticket and stick it somewhere safe
- Seek professional financial and legal advice
- Call the Lottery Player Hotline on 1-800-252-1775 to arrange a private appointment to claim the prize
According to the Illinois Lottery, winners may request anonymity if the prize is greater than $250,000.
