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A sign advertises the Powerball jackpoy outside of a magazine store on January 13, 2016 in New York City. After no winners were declared in recent drawings, Wednesday night’s $1.5-billion jackpot is the biggest in lottery history. Powerball is played in 44 states and three U.S. territories.
More than $650 million in lottery winnings are up for grabs during this week’s drawings from the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots. But a new analysis from Allstate’s data scientist team points out just how unlikely you are to win either one.
The odds of winning the $350 million Mega Millions jackpot is 1 in 258,890,850, according to the game’s assessment. And that’s the more likely of the two. The Powerball jackpot, now $307 million, holds odds of 1 in 292,201,338.
To compare, you’re more likely to score a hole-in-one on your birthday, get a dog bite while out for a run, and become a victim of identity theft before age 40.
In fact, the odds of all three events happening to the same person are 1 in 19,900,000, Allstate found — far more likely than hitting either jackpot.
The odds of winning both the Mega Millions and the Powerball are an even bigger stretch: 1 in 75,648,252,765,957,300. (That’s 75 quadrillion.)
But on the off-chance that you’re touched by the hand of fate this week, don’t expect to walk away with all $657 million.
Lottery site USAMega.com estimates the federal tax withholding on the $218 million lump sum would be $54.5 million, and state taxes could knock out up to another $19.2 million (with New York the worst offender). For the Powerball, the site projects those tax tallies for the $193.2 million cash prize at $48.3 million and up to $17 million, respectively.
The next Mega Millions drawing is at 11 p.m. ET on Tuesday; the Powerball, 10:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
