There's no strategy to win Mega Millions, but where you buy your ticket affects your winnings
WOODBURY, Minn. -- All you have to do is pick five numbers between 1 and 70, and then another between 1 and 25.
Match those numbers with the official drawing of the Mega Millions lottery on Tuesday night and you'll be the lucky winner of a jackpot worth more than $830 million.
"I don't need that much," lottery player Marty Cover quipped to WCCO. "Instead of ending my vacation today, I would extend it into the future."
Shannon Kelly, another player, likewise said "All I want is to be happy and retire early."
Whatever the motivation, the massive jackpot is the third largest in the game's history, and only once in the last 20 years did players from Minnesota win the biggest Mega Millions prize. In fact, among the 226 Mega Millions jackpot winning tickets in the last 20 years, more than half of them have been won in just five states: New York (38 winning tickets), California (33), New Jersey (25), Ohio (21) and Georgia (14).
Of course, it's unknown where the next winner will come from, but different states do present different options for players in terms of how much of their winnings they'll keep and how much they'll owe in taxes.
In addition to a 24% flat tax rate from the IRS, a winner from Minnesota must pay a 7.25% state tax on winnings, while in Wisconsin the tax is 7.65%. Buy a ticket in Iowa and win, the state tax is down to 5%, but in South Dakota it's zero.
Good luck everybody!
