The prize was shared between three winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016. That’s the value of Powerball’s largest jackpot before Saturday’s prize grew to $1.6 billion. By comparison, the odds of being struck by lightning in a given year are less than 1 in 1 million, according to the CDC, and the odds of being attacked and killed by a shark are around 1 in 4.3 million, according to Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File. The odds of winning the lottery are slim, around 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball. The jackpot marks the largest in the lottery’s history and the largest lottery prize in U.S. The Powerball had been drawn 41 times without a jackpot winner, the last of which was in August, the lottery said, a record for the longest run.
Huge jackpots are a feature, not a bug, of lottery design and the rules are structured to make it easier to win but harder to win big.
The grand prizes up for grabs in lottery jackpots have soared in recent years. A winner opting for the annuity payment is set to receive around $68 million a year, though this would be reduced to around $43 million by federal taxes and could be cut further by state and city taxes depending on where the winner lives.
