Jackpot Swells To $760M After $2M GA Winner

GEORGIA — While a Hephzibah resident won millions in Monday's Powerball drawing, no one won big Wednesday, causing the jackpot to grow to $760 million.

Georgia Lottery officials said Wednesday someone in Hephzibah won $2 million Monday, affording the winner a hefty Christmas gift. The resident's prize doubled from $1 million due to the Power Play feature, officials said in a news release.

Other prizes included two $50,000 winners. A winning ticket was sold to a McDonough resident via the Georgia Lottery app while the other ticket was sold at a Woodstock Road supermarket in Roswell, officials said.

One person won $150,000 in Wednesday's drawing while another won $50,000, according to the lottery results.

The winning numbers in Wednesday's drawing were 4, 11, 38, 51 and 68. The winning red Powerball was 5 while the Power Play was 3X.

Monday's numbers were 5, 12, 20, 24 and 29 with a red Powerball of 4 and a Power Play of 2X.

The $760 million jackpot is the sixth-largest prize in the Powerball's history.

This is the fourth jackpot worth more than half a billion dollars in 2023. The last time a jackpot-winning ticket was sold was on Oct. 11, when a ticket worth $1.765 billion was sold in California. Since then, there have been 32 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner.

The odds of winning the jackpot are steep — about 1 in 292.2 million. For perspective, the odds of being struck by lightning are less than 1 in 1 million.

And if you do win, keep in mind the federal government takes a 24 percent cut of any prize worth $5,000 or more. Most jackpot winners take the lump sum — that’s $382.5 million for Saturday’s game — and they immediately see fewer dollars flow into their bank accounts when the prize is paid out.

If the $760 million prize were paid out in an annuity spread over 30 years, the IRS would claim 24 percent before the payments went out.

In either case, whether a cash payout or annuity, a jackpot winner would jump into the highest income tax bracket, and would pay the top federal rate of 37 percent.

All but eight states — California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming — also tax big lottery prizes.

Georgia takes 5.75 percent in state taxes and 24 percent in federal taxes for winnings more than $5,000.

" The GLC reports to the IRS and Georgia Department of Revenue the names of winners of prizes above $600. ... Additionally, the GLC is required to check for and deduct any outstanding child support payments for prizes of $2,500 and above and student loans and state taxes for prizes of $5,000 and above, net of wager or ticket cost," lottery officials said on the Georgia Lottery website.

Winning online tickets have an expiration date of 180 days from the drawing date while instant ticket winners have 90 days from the expired date to claim prizes. Instructions on how to receive prizes are here.

Playing the Powerball costs $2, and drawings are held at 11 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Tickets are sold until 10 p.m. on draw nights. Power Plays cost an additional $1.

Players can choose five white ball numbers from 1-69 and a red Powerball number from 1-26. The Quik Pik option is available for players who want the computer to choose.