Friday, July 21

Today, we have a YNH Exclusive for our daily update, which offers a deep dive into the US lottery system. Enjoy!

A Californian man became $1 billion richer on Thursday when the United States Powerball jackpot was finally won, and the winning ticket was sold in a tiny store in downtown Los Angeles. The win was the third-largest jackpot in Powerball history, after the massive $2.04 billion jackpot from November of 2022 and the $1.536 million jackpot from 2016. However, it's not a straightforward process. First, they give you two options: an annuitized prize of $1.08 billion (which is given over a 30-year period with a 5% increase each year), or a lump sum of $516.8 million; both options are pre-tax estimates. If you select the lump sum option, 24% of the money immediately goes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in taxes, but that's not all. Because of the size of the prize, that tax amount is then increased, but changes for whether you file as a married couple or single individual. For a single individual, you must pay $174,238.25 plus 37% of the taxable income over $578,125 (which includes the lottery prize), and married couples must pay $186,601.50 plus 37% of the taxable income over $693,750. After all of that, state taxes are also applied; all in all, your winnings are drastically decreased!

Lastly, for information/stats about Tour de France, check out this article by Mihir Gupta!

Quote of the Day (BrainyQuote): Happiness is not by chance, but by choice. (Jim Rohn)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Ameliorate- Ameliorate is a formal word that means to make something, such as a problem, better or more tolerable.