NEW YORK (CBSNews) — It’s time to get your Powerball dreams ready: The fifth-largest drawing in history will be Saturday (Aug. 19) night.
The winning numbers for the $535 million jackpot will be drawn at 11 p.m. Tickets are $2, and sales time cut offs vary by state but are usually one to two hours before the drawing.
So what to do with your winnings? You can collect it as a one-time, lump-sum cash payment or in annual payments over 30 years. If you take the lump-sum cash payment, you will get roughly $340.1 million (the amount of cash on hand Powerball has).
If you factor in a 25 percent federal tax, the cash payout option would amount to about $243 million. This does not include state or city taxes, which will further lower your winnings. Despite the lower amount, most players take the lump sum option.
Players can claim a prize up to $600 at any licensed lottery retailer in the jurisdiction where they bought the ticket. Winning tickets do not need to be cashed at the same store, but they do need to cashed in the jurisdiction of the prize, according to the Powerball website. In general, you have between 90 days to one year to claim your prize, depending on the state.
But don’t get too excited: The odds of winning Powerball jackpot are a dismal 1 in 292.2 million. There are better odds of winning the smaller prizes.
Khalid from Queens, New York, told CBS New York that he’s definitely going in on this.
“I didn’t buy last week, but I’ll buy tickets today,” he said. “I’m gonna buy 15 tickets.”
“I’d retire, pay my bills, and spread the love,” one woman told CBS New York. “You know, give some money to the church.”
“Definitely going to donate to charity, give back to the community, do some donations to nonprofit organizations,” another man said, adding on a personal level he’d also take the loot and leave New York altogether and “buy that big mansion.”
And if there is no winner, the next drawing is Wednesday — and will be even larger.
