The Mega Millions jackpot climbed to $672 million after no ticket matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night. The numbers were 2, 4, 10, 48, 56 and gold Mega Ball 22, leaving the prize as the biggest lottery jackpot of the year so far.
That is the figure on the billboard. It is not the figure most winners would keep. A player who hits Friday night’s drawing can choose the full $672 million paid over 30 annual installments, or a one-time cash prize of $293.3 million. Even that cash option would fall to around $222.9 million after the mandatory 24% federal withholding, and it could sink to about $184.8 million once a 37% federal marginal tax rate is applied, depending on the winner’s overall taxable income.
The installment path does not escape the bite of taxes either. Annual payments of about $22.4 million would be cut to roughly $14.1 million under the 37% federal marginal rate. State taxes can widen the gap further in places such as New York, which taxes lottery winnings at 10.9%, while Texas, Florida and California do not tax them. For anyone buying a ticket, the odds remain long at 1-in-290.4 million, a reminder that the advertised number is only part of the arithmetic.
The climb to $672 million is happening because the jackpot keeps rolling over when no one matches all six numbers. That pattern has already produced a bigger headline this year: a $533 million Mega Millions prize claimed by a ticket buyer from Illinois in March. The Powerball side of the lottery world is also drawing attention, with its jackpot at $498 million and its next drawing set for Wednesday night.
For now, the question is not whether the prize is large. It is whether Friday night produces a winner who can turn a headline amount into anything close to the sum printed on the ticket. If it does not, the jackpot only gets harder to ignore.
