A lucky person out of Maine won the 4th largest Mega Millions jackpot Friday. The total winnings racked up to $1.35 billion.
Lottery officials confirmed that although it’s still a lot, the winner will see less than half of that after taxes are taken out.
The person’s identity has not been released, but the lucky person who matched all five white ball numbers plus the mega ball will pocket $724.6 million, Forbes reported.
The winner had two options for receiving the payout, accepting the money in an annuity that includes an immediate cash payment followed by 29 yearly installments, or a slightly smaller one-time cash lump sum, with the latter being the most popular choice among winners.
The winner had a 1 in 302.6 million chance of winning the Mega Millions. And although there are federal income taxes deducted (dropping the lump sum to $550 million) and also state taxes of includes a 7.15% tax on prizes over $5,000.
