Lottery currently at $1.6 billion prize monies

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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32,615
yeah, knowing my luck i'd realise i'd won and have a heart attack :-/

think i'd want an anonymity clause on that, can only imagine the begging letters and potential ransom threats that might be made if you suddenly land that sort of dosh.

"Not if you’re not a US resident and from a county with a tax treaty." does the US allow winners from other countries? i'm sure i read the Powerball didn't, back when that hit some idiot amount a few years ago; some company immediately appeared where you could buy tickets online and then it was pointed out they'd all be invalid due to that clause.


no, anyone can buy US lottery tickets
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
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58,899
Those that are buying US lottery tickets which sites are you using?

I think it was the lotter I used last time there was one of these huge jackpots... though one minor annoyance was that they'd claimed to buy lottery tickets in (IIRC) Delaware but ended up giving me tickets bought in New Jersey.... that sort of thing can cost you tens of millions with a jackpot this size!
 
Associate
Joined
24 Jun 2005
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263
I missed the 12%

So 25% goes to charity and a 12% goes to the government. So 63% goes to the winner/operator.

Quite a few deductions that people don't immediately realise are losing here in the UK when comparing to the US.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lottery_(United_Kingdom)

As stated in that article, the 25% is arguably a stealth tax as it funds charitable things the government don't then have to fund.
In the UK all the deductions are taken before the prize. So, in the UK if the prize is £10 million, then you get to keep £10 million. In the US, if the prize is $10 million you'll get taxed on that too - about $2.5 million on by the state and between about $900k an $0 depending on the state - so you'd get to keep $7.5 - $6.6 million (ish).
 
Caporegime
Joined
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In the UK all the deductions are taken before the prize. So, in the UK if the prize is £10 million, then you get to keep £10 million. In the US, if the prize is $10 million you'll get taxed on that too - about $2.5 million on by the state and between about $900k an $0 depending on the state - so you'd get to keep $7.5 - $6.6 million (ish).

See previous posts on this subject, some states don't tax it and if you're from the UK (as most on this forum are) then the federal taxes don't apply. In both the US and UK lotteries various deductions going towards either the UK government or local US state are deducted from the funds raised.
 
Soldato
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In the UK all the deductions are taken before the prize. So, in the UK if the prize is £10 million, then you get to keep £10 million. In the US, if the prize is $10 million you'll get taxed on that too - about $2.5 million on by the state and between about $900k an $0 depending on the state - so you'd get to keep $7.5 - $6.6 million (ish).

But in the US the prize fund would have been $15m to begin with.
 
Soldato
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Castle Anthrax
Aren't the US jackpot figures artificially inflated anyway? Isn't the headline figure based on taking payment in installments meaning that inflation will have taken huge chunks out of it by the time you get most of it? If you take the option of taking it all up front you'll get a lot less than quoted even before the taxman comes knocking.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
Posts
58,899
Aren't the US jackpot figures artificially inflated anyway? Isn't the headline figure based on taking payment in installments meaning that inflation will have taken huge chunks out of it by the time you get most of it? If you take the option of taking it all up front you'll get a lot less than quoted even before the taxman comes knocking.

Yes, basically they don't display the actual jackpot amount but rather what you'd win if it is invested over several years and you take regular pay outs.

The jackpot in this case is actually 900 million but 1.6 billion sounds better for marketing purposes.

The tax isn't particularly relevant when comparing lotteries as it is governments not lotteries that apply it, a US citizen playing the euromillions still owes tax to the US government and a UK citizen playing a US lottery doesn't owe tax to the federal government.
 
Caporegime
Joined
29 Jan 2008
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58,899
I want the 1.2 billion one, that's the one I entered, I think.

I've not read the small print have I :(

me neither, but I've got a scanned copy of a ticket and I'll be on the phone to a big US law firm in the unlikely event I win

Sadly it is just 900 million though, not whatever 1.X billion they're claiming, that's just a marketing con based on taking payments over time and having the jackpot invested.
 
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