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Madness in the USA: The “Powerball” lottery lottery that will be held tonight (tonight) is driving the country crazy after the first prize reached an all-time high and stands at 1.6 billion dollars. The lottery takes place in 45 states in the USA, as well as in the capital Washington, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands which are under American control.
The huge prize was accumulated after no one won the lottery since last August, for 39 consecutive lotteries – this despite the fact that the lotteries are held three times a week. To date, the record for the largest prize was recorded in January 2016, when 3 lottery winners shared a prize of 1.58 billion dollars. The record for a single winner was set in 2018, when a South Carolina resident alone won $1.53 billion.
To win the huge prize, participants must guess 5 numbers between 1 and 69, as well as the red “Powerball” which ranges between 1 and 26. If a participant guesses the five regular numbers, but not the “Powerball”, he wins one million dollars. In addition, smaller prizes are also given that range from $4 (for those who guess only the “Powerball”) to $50,000 (for those who guess 4 of the 5 regular numbers and also the “Powerball”).
The odds of winning the grand prize are extremely low, standing at one in 292 million – but despite this, the American public has stormed the sales centers en masse and bought thousands of tickets so far. Each lottery ticket costs $2, and in the US it is estimated that the total cost of the lottery tickets sold is in the millions of dollars.
The lucky winner, if indeed there is one, will have to choose whether to receive his winnings in annual payments spread over 30 years, or alternatively take “only” 782 million dollars in one payment. This is a regular custom in lotteries in the US, where the winners are encouraged to spread their winnings so that they don’t spend everything quickly and fall into financial debt. Additional beneficiaries of the huge winnings are the tax authorities in the US, who are expected to receive tens of millions of dollars deducted from the prize.
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