Data API

Lottery tax rate for all 50 states and DC, with the reason any state departs from its headline rate.

The rate a winner actually pays, which is not the state top marginal rate wherever a state exempts lottery winnings or withholds at a lottery-specific rate. Each entry carries a note explaining the difference where one exists.

lotteryTaxRate

Decimal rate applied to winnings (0.05 = 5%)

hasIncomeTax

Whether the state levies an individual income tax at all

additionalLocalTax

Extra local or county rate where one applies

notes

Why this rate departs from the headline top marginal rate

Federal marginal brackets for all four filing statuses, plus the mandatory withholding rate.

Lottery winnings are taxed as ordinary income, so these are the brackets that apply to a jackpot. The withholding rate is a prepayment, not the final liability — a large prize almost always owes more at filing.

State and federal lottery tax rates archived per tax year.

General tax tables track top marginal rates; this tracks what a lottery winner actually paid, year by year. It exists so a calculation made in a past year stays checkable after the current-year tables move on.

Advertised jackpot, cash value, next drawing time and latest winning numbers for every game tracked.

The live snapshot behind the calculator, covering 14 games. Cash values for most games are estimated from the advertised jackpot rather than published by the lottery — see the note on cash values below.

Advertised jackpot and cash value per drawing, with the cash-to-annuity ratio and estimated plays sold.

Powerball reaches back to February 2010 from official results; other games accumulate forward from the point we began archiving. The cash ratio moves with prevailing interest rates, which is the reason to keep the series at all.

cashRatio

cashValue ÷ jackpot. Null unless the cash value was actually published

cashValueBasis

"published" if the lottery reported the cash value, "estimated" if it was derived from the jackpot

estimatedPlays

Plays inferred from special-ball winner counts. An estimate of plays, not tickets or revenue

openingJackpot

First advertised amount seen for the drawing, where we watched the cycle open

basis

"official" from the game's published result, "observed" from the advertised amount beforehand

Every drawing whose jackpot was won, with the amount and the cash value published at the time.

Mega Millions reaches back to 2002 with the game’s own account of each win; Powerball wins are derived from its payout tables. Who won and where is left as prose rather than split into fields, because it is written for people and shredding it loses more than it gains.

winningTickets

Tickets sharing the jackpot, where counted

state

Best-effort two-letter code read from the description; may be null

description

The game’s own account of the win, unmodified

Each of the 30 annuity payments as a share of the advertised jackpot, applied to the current jackpots.

Published as factors because the schedule is identical for any jackpot: payment n is always the same fraction of the total. Multiply by your own prize to get a schedule. Scoped to Powerball and Mega Millions, whose 30-year 5%-escalation structure is documented; state games run their own terms.

paymentFactors

Year 1–30, each as a share of the advertised jackpot. Sums to 1

annualIncreaseRate

Escalation between payments (0.05 = 5% a year)

Per-number draw frequency over each game’s recorded history.

Counts only. Past frequency does not affect future draws and every combination remains equally likely — games with too few recorded drawings for counts to mean anything are listed with the frequencies omitted rather than published as if meaningful.

sufficientForAnalysis

False when too few drawings are recorded; frequencies are then omitted

daysSinceDrawn

Days between the number’s last appearance and generation time

Winners and prize amount at every tier, for each drawing, as published by the game.

Pattern endpoint — for example /data/draw-payouts/powerball/2026.json

One file per game per year, split out because the tier detail across sixteen years runs to megabytes. Available for powerball (2010 onward) and megamillions. These are what the estimated play counts are derived from.

tiers[].winners

Base winners at that tier; multiplier winners are a subset, not additional

tiers[].oneIn

Odds of that tier under the matrix in force on the drawing date

matrix

Ball pool in force for that drawing; both games have changed theirs more than once