This past week witnessed the largest ever Powerball take place with one lucky winner from California claiming the 2.04 billion dollar prize. The amount represented a world record and the fifth time the Powerball lottery crossed over a billion dollars.
While the odds of winning the lottery are estimated to be roughly one in 292.2 million, residents across the United States try to their hand at winning the big prize on a weekly basis.
Powerball rule tweak
The greater prize pot is directly related to a rule change that the the Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) made last July.
Previously, punters had to pick a white ball number between 1 and 69 and a red ball number from 1 to 35. The new rules reduced the total number of white numbers to 59, while the red numbers were also decreased to 26.
The rule change meant that odds of winning the Powerball went from 1 in 175.2 million to 1 in 292.2 million. However, the rule made it easier to win the smaller prizes with the four dollar prize now increasing from 1 in 111 to 1 in 92.
The largest Powerball wins
The following are the five biggest lottery wins in the United States:
1. $2.04 billion (Powerball), November, 2022
2. $1.59 billion (Powerball), January, 2016
3. $1.54 billion (Mega Millions), October 2018
4. $1.34 billion (Mega Millions), July 2022
5. $1.05 billion (Mega Millions), January 2021
Best State to win the Lottery in
While there is no getting around the Federal Tax rate that is applied to a lottery win, the rate currently…
