With a Mega Millions jackpot of $480 million and Powerball's jackpot sitting at $725 million, lottery fever is officially back.
The latest Powerball drawing, which took place Monday night, saw a jackpot of $680 million. And while one Powerball ticket in Iowa scored $2 million, and another in California won $1 million, no ticket matched all six numbers, officials said, sending the pot soaring.
In Saturday's Powerball drawing, a $1 million winning ticket was also sold, a little closer to home this time -- in South Beloit, Illinois, lottery officials said.
The next Powerball drawing, with a jackpot of $725 million, is scheduled for 9:59 p.m. CT Wednesday.
According to lottery officials, the new Powerball jackpot is the seventh-largest in Powerball history and ninth-largest in U.S. lottery history. But the $725 million prize is only for winners who choose to take their riches through an annuity, paid annually over 29 years.
Nearly all winners opt for a lump-sum cash value, which is currently estimated at $366.2 million.
Those winnings also would be subject to 24% federal tax withholdings plus another 13%, since the money pushes winners into the top federal income tax bracket of 37%, CNBC reports. Many states tax lottery winnings, too.
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No one has won the Powerball jackpot since April 19, when a ticket in Ohio matched all five white balls and the red Powerball to win $252.6 million. That's 35 consecutive draws without a jackpot winner. The winless streak is due to the abysmal odds of winning: one in 292.2 million.
And the longer the game goes without a grand prize winner, the larger the payout will grow -- with the same going for Mega Millions.
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The next Mega Millions drawing, scheduled for 10 p.m. Tuesday, has a jackpot of just below half-a-billion dollars.
While the chances were extremely low, if a single person were to win both jackpots, they could walk away with a staggering $1.174 billion.
So far this year, six Illinois residents have won prizes of $1 million or more by playing either Mega Millions or Powerball, Illinois lottery officials said.
