There may be a Mega Millions jackpot winner but there's still $620 million up for grabs in the Powerball drawing set for Wednesday night.
The last tickets were drawn Saturday night but there was no winner so the next drawing is set for Wednesday night. Drawings happen at 11 p.m. EDT when the six winning numbers are chosen.
Rules around the lottery vary from state to state slightly and the latest someone can buy a ticket is an hour or two before the drawing. In the Eastern time zone that means tickets are available before 9 or 10 p.m. EDT depending on the state. For those in California, the latest they could buy tickets is 7 p.m. PDT.
People who are in line when tickets stop being sold are not allowed to buy tickets. Those who wish to play have to have their tickets in hand when the lottery closes. Those tickets need to be purchased in person or directly from the state lottery online. "Lotteries may refuse to pay out prize money on Powerball tickets purchased on any website other than their own," according to the Powerball website.
Anyone who wins can claim their winnings in the jurisdiction where they purchased the ticket. The jackpot can only be claimed at certain lottery offices because the amount is over $600. The amount of time winners have to claim their money varies depending on where they are. In some states, winners have as little as 90 days to claim their prize month while in others they have up to a year to claim their prize.
Winners can opt to get their prize money in installments or in one lump sum. The annual payments are paid out over 29 years after an initial payment and the lump sum is all paid at once. The winnings are subject to the income tax wherever the ticket was purchased, according to Powerball.
Winners won't be contacted by email or phone by the lottery if they won. Any contact from the lottery is a scam unless there is a lottery contest going on. There is also no fee to collect the winning prize money and winners asked to pay a fee to collect are probably being scammed, according to Powerball.
