Florida Lottery Ticket Wins $1.58 Billion, $493.5 Million After Taxes

A winning ticket for the $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot was sold in Florida. If you are the winner of the $1.58 billion Mega Millions jackpot, how much do you collect? Your first answer might be $1.58 billion. But in fact, you actually would collect that amount—before taxes—only if you agree to take the mega payments over 30 years. That means 30 annual payments. If you want payment in a lump sum, the prize is cut roughly in half to $783.3 million.

The IRS gets $187,992,000 of that right away, since the tax law require 24% federal income tax withholding that is sent directly to the IRS. That cuts the winner’s take home to $595,308,000. Gambling winnings are subject to mandatory federal withholding taxes, so your lump sum payment would be reduced to $595,308,000 million by a mandatory federal tax withholding of 24%.