Powerball Calculator

A Powerball play costs $2 and covers six numbers drawn from two pools: 5 white balls numbered 1 to 69, and one red Powerball numbered 1 to 26. Match all six and you win the jackpot.

Drawings are held every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET. The jackpot starts at $20 million and grows with every drawing that has no jackpot winner. There are 9 ways to win in total, with overall odds of 1 in 24.87 per play.

For an extra $1 per play, Power Play multiplies non-jackpot prizes by 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, or 10X — the Match 5 prize with Power Play is always $2 million, and the 10X multiplier is only available when the advertised jackpot is $150 million or less. Double Play is a separate $1 add-on: a second drawing with the same numbers and a top cash prize of $10 million.

The giant number on billboards is the advertised jackpot — the total paid out if you take the annuity: Jackpot winners may take the prize as an annuity paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years, or as a one-time lump-sum cash payment.

The cash option is the one-time lump sum actually in the prize pool. It is always smaller than the advertised jackpot — often roughly half, though the exact ratio moves with interest rates. There is no fixed formula: if you know the official cash value from the prize announcement, enter it in the calculator above.

Tax-wise the distinction matters enormously. The lump sum is taxed all in one year, usually at the top federal bracket. The annuity spreads the income — and the tax — across 30 tax years.

Powerball winnings are taxed exactly like any other lottery winnings: as ordinary income, federally and in most states. Nothing about the Powerball brand changes the tax math — a $100 million Powerball jackpot and a $100 million prize from any other game are taxed identically.

Federal tax applies the year's progressive brackets to the taxable amount after your standard deduction. State tax follows the same state planning rates used by the general lottery tax calculator — including $0 in the nine states without an income tax and in California, which exempts lottery winnings from state tax.

When you claim a large prize, 24% is typically withheld for federal taxes (plus any state withholding). That withholding is credited against your final bill — it is not the final tax. The calculator shows both, side by side, so you can see the difference.

The Powerball calculator runs on the same shared engine as every other calculator on this site. Your jackpot, cash value, state, tax year, and filing status go in; the engine applies the verified federal brackets and state planning rates and returns the estimated federal tax, state tax, total tax, and take-home — plus withholding shown separately from final liability. Game-specific rules (ticket price, prize tiers, odds) drive the information on this page; they never change the tax math.