So, who really won?

That does not protect you from going broke either. If you hit the lottery you will be contacted by lenders who will be happy to give you the money up front and take your future winnings.

A surprising number of people are broke a few years after hitting the jackpot.

I assumed he must have taken a lump sum to get such a high withholding.

@vicfroh

INCORRECT.

The lottery does not have $2.04 billion in cash. They have $997.6 million. If you take the lump sum, that's what you get. If you take the 30 year payout, they put the $997.6 million into a self-amortizing annuity that pays you interest -- exactly like you would pay interest to a bank on a mortgage.

I think he should have been taxed $2.03 billion. And come the Revolution, we abolish the goddamned lotteries. They're just another way to suction money out of the working class!

I disagree. Billionaires should be taxed even harder because the guy who won the lottery is the only honest billionaire. He didn't have to exploit anyone or rip them off.

The tax hit is actually higher than that.

But the biggest deduction from that $2.04 billion lottery win comes from regulators permitting the lottery to advertise the gross amount. The actual cash value is less than half that, because it's paid out over decades.

Elsewhere in the world, the present cash value of a prize is what's advertised and paid out,. Try running a lottery the American way overseas and you'd land in prison or pay a whopping fine for false advertising.

soft-shelled eggs in my yard are box turtles but i don't have the knowledge to identify these eggs, could be turtle, could be something else...

But all the super rich can see is "how dare anyone take away any of my money!" and fight tooth and nail over every single cent of it.