SACRAMENTO - California residents are lining up at their favorite Lottery retail location for a chance to bring in the new year by winning a jackpot of $84 million for the SuperLOTTO Plus drawing for tonight’s draw. "Once again, the California State Lottery is in the lead with a huge jackpot of $84 million," said Lottery spokesperson Michael Doyle, referring to the fact that the California Lottery currently has the largest single-state lottery jackpot in the country. He continued, "We are excited for all those players who have a chance to win and for the California public schools that will receive millions of dollars as well."
The last time somebody won a SuperLOTTO Plus jackpot of this size was in January of 2005 when Colin McLean of Orange won $81 million which set his life on a brand new course. Besides the obvious financial benefits, McLean, who was 25 years old when he won, was able to set aside some of his winnings to assist the victims of the tsunami.
A single jackpot winner of $84 million who chooses 26 annual payments, will receive the first payment of more than $2 million and the 26th payment being more than $4 million (before federal tax withholding). The estimated cash value would equal roughly half of the jackpot - $42 million or the amount the lottery would invest to payout the jackpot prize over 26 years. In the event of the death of a winner, the full prize is paid to the estate of the winner.
A retailer who sells the winning ticket receives 1/2 of 1% of the jackpot as a bonus.