Wisconsinites spend millions trying to win billion-dollar Powerball
MADISON — According to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, Wisconsin residents spent more than forty million dollars in the two weeks leading up to the record Powerball $1.68 billion drawing on January 13th.
Information from the Wisconsin Lottery Communications stated that for the week ending on January 9th, ticket sales totaled $21,709.974 in Wisconsin. The week that included the winning tickets of January 13, ticket sales for that week amounted to $21,014,409. Ticket sale for each county in the state are not available.
When compared to the previous few months where sales were between $950,000 and $3.5 million each week, sales when the Powerball winning amount gets very large, ticket sales go up by seven to twenty times more. It also closes in on the prior weekly Powerball sales record of $22.3 million for the week of August 25, 2001, when the Powerball jackpot was $295 million.
Wisconsin must contribute 31.29 percent of its sales to the national jackpot. The rest of the money stays in Wisconsin. All of the money spend on other Wisconsin gaming says in the state.
The chart below lists the weekly sales of Powerball tickets in the state.
If you had won the $1.68 billion Powerball jackpot and choose the cash option of an estimated $1.041 billion, the federal income tax rate is 25 percent and the state tax rate is 7.65 percent. You’ll take home $701,517,600 after taxes.
What retailers get
The Lottery pays retailers a two percent incentive for the sale of winning tickets with prizes $600 or greater. There is a maximum $100,000 payment on any winning ticket per draw. The retailer receives their two percent even if the winning ticket is not redeemed by the player.
The mission of the Wisconsin Lottery is to provide tax relief to Wisconsin homeowners. Since the sale of the first lottery ticket in September of 1988, the Lottery has generated:
• More than $3.87 billion in property tax relief for Wisconsin homeowners
• More than $7.14 billion in prizes for players
• $766 million in commissions for Wisconsin business
