The Powerball jackpot is now $510 million, after Wednesday’s drawing failed to yield a winner for the top prize.
The next drawing is at 10:59 p.m. ET on Saturday. If the prize amount doesn’t go up before then, the jackpot would be the fifth largest in the game’s history, and the eighth largest in U.S. lottery history.
(The most recent big Powerball win was a $447.8 million jackpot awarded earlier this summer to a single winner in California.)
Of course, the odds of winning are slim (see graphic below), and if you are lucky enough to pick the winning combo, you won’t walk away with the full amount.
Lottery site USAMega.com estimates the federal tax withholding on the $324.2 million lump sum would be roughly $81 million, and state taxes could knock out up to another $28.6 million (with New York the worst offender). Those figures are just the amounts withheld up front; your final tax burden is likely to be even higher.