After Saturday’s failure to win, the Powerball jackpot has now reached a record US$1.9 billion (C$2.6 billion), a jackpot you can win even if you don’t live. In the USA.
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Quebecers desperate to get their hands on this massive kitty playing Monday can legally do so, but participating in the draw will be complicated.
According to lottery rules, anyone passing through one of the 45 participating states can legally claim a ticket without being a U.S. citizen.
Conversely, Section 1305 of the US Customs Code prohibits the importation of “obscene articles,” which include “any lottery ticket, or printed paper capable of serving as a lottery ticket or lottery advertisement.” Legally speaking, a Canadian cannot enter Canada and then return to the US with a Powerball ticket, which must be validated in the state of purchase to claim the prize.
Another solution is to do business with an online lottery resale site that offers customers to buy tickets. Since the tickets are bought and stored in the US, there is no problem importing lottery tickets, but it is still possible to rely on various websites.
And, while Monday’s record prize pool may look very attractive, you should know that the winner won’t actually pocket $1.9 billion.
Powerball offers two ways to claim the jackpot, either receive the entire jackpot over a 30-year period or accept a smaller amount immediately. At the next draw on Monday, the amount should exceed US$900 million (C$1.2 billion).
In either case, the winner must pay 30% of their winnings to US federal taxes. Different states also have their own rule, up to almost 10% without taxation.
So, among the states bordering Quebec, New Hampshire is the cheapest state with a 0% tax, followed by Vermont (6%), Maine (7.15%) and New York State (8.82%), according to TheLotter’s compilation. “Snowbirds,” established in Florida, don’t have to pay taxes on their lottery winnings.
Powerball works by drawing a combination of five numbers from 1 to 69, followed by a Powerball containing a number from 1 to 26. The odds of getting full admission are 1 in 292,201,338. In other words, a person is 292 times more. He’s more likely to be struck by lightning than win Powerball if he plays it once in a lifetime (1 in 1 million).
In a sign of the difficulty of winning the jackpot, despite a rhythm of three draws per week, the jackpot has continued to swell since August 3, hence the record size of US$1.9 billion. The previous record was set on January 13, 2016 when three winners split US$1.5 billion.
Withdrawals in excess of $1 billion are not uncommon in the United States. In the last two years, two mega million draws have crossed this mark in July 2022 and January 2021.
