Lottery jackpot in US powers up to $450m

You think national lottery prizes are impressive?

Last week, a customer at Jordan’s Centra in Curragh Grange, Newbridge bought a winning ticket. The prize, yet to be claimed, is an impressive €10 million.

Tomorrow night in America, the estimated jackpot for the multi-state lottery, called the Powerball, is a gigantic $450 million (€400 million).

By contrast the nine-country Euromillions top prize tonight is estimated at €15 million.

You could live the rest of your life admiring the view from the Royal Penthouse Suit at the Hotel President in Geneva, or buy one (yes, just one) painting by French artist Paul Gauguin, or just buy a county in Ireland and rename it after yourself.

The odds of winning are, apparently, 1:175,000,000 - roughly the same likelihood as New York claiming the Sam Maguire Cup this year.

And it’s not even the biggest Powerball jackpot to date, which was $590.5 million (€520 million) in May 2013 – won by a single ticket, sold in Florida.

However, if someone wins one of the biggest prizes in American lottery history, they cannot simply claim the full prize – there are various options which allow winners to claim regular payouts over many years.

The cash payout for matching all six numbers tomorrow night is only $304,000,000.

Hardly seems worth it.