As you know, US lotteries publicize big Jackpots, but based on a annual payment
basis. When you choose a lump sum payment, the prize is cut easily by a half.

On top of that, you have to discount also Federal and State taxes.
Taxes varies depending on whether you are a US resident,
and in which state you (or someone in your behalf) purchased the ticket.

At the end, you receive roughly a third of the announced Jackpot.

Euro Millions, on the other hand, is a tax free - cash only lottery.
The announced jackpot is what you receive. The problem with this lottery,
however, is that they play just once a week, so its jackpot accumulation is slow.

To complicate the things, the jackpots of these three lotteries varies frequently
due to the rollovers, so one day Euromillions can have a "modest" £11 millions,
and Powerball can be having US$50 million, and the next day Euromillions can have
£15 millions and Powerball US$15 millions, and so on. US lotteries plays twice a week,
so this information is always changing.

Moreover, during these hard financial times currency exchange rates vary
frequently during the day.

So, which is better, at the end?

I usually do the math before purchasing lottery tickets via internet to decide which
one was a better "investment" at that moment. I quickly get bored of doing that so
I composed a web page that compares these lotteries.

www.OnlineLotteryWorld.com

It has updated jackpot information (to the minute!), the tax information and
the exchange rate, and provides you a real-time comparison of these three lotteries.

Please note that take advantage of this information, you will need to indicate
where you leave, so the tax calculation can be done.

As many people leave in countries where they cannot purchase directly the tickets
for these lotteries, I have added information of online lottery ticket providers that
can help you.

Now, when you select an online lottery provider, it is important to find out
where they purchase the tickets, because this will have implications on your tax
calculation (for US lotteries). The web page indicated also considers this information.

Well, I hope you find it interesting. Enjoy!

If you have any feedback (good or bad) don't hesitate to post it on the site, or here.

yes, lottery winners in the USA thoroughly get raped by taxes.

not only that, but the US dollar is wearing concrete shoes falling down into davey jones' locker as it is being tanked down the crapper

by the time the payout is actually made, winners lose another small fortune due to the shoddy greenback!

blitzed

Interesting how a few years later, the American dollar is in the same boat... sinking.

Luckily, I live pretty close to the US boarder, so whenever the Mega Millions (and now PowerBall too) jackpots get big, I hop over and buy some tickets.

I would love it for a Canadian to win one of their huge jackpots.

hiya mjavor, good luck!

yup, win then it will be a race to convert money into tangible assets, before the paper currencies deteriorate further

cheers!
blitzed

Wow, $317 million MegaMillion jackpot just won.

7 guys split it. The 8th guy said he didn't feel lucky that week and opted out of the group for that week!

wild...I wonder how much they were throwing at it per draw...some people are nuts and pool $100 per head each draw.

group play makes lottery more fun, but I could totally understand sitting out of play in such a scenario...still even then, I would probably ask to let $5 or $10 ride for the prospect of winning a smaller percentage accordingly.

later,
blitzed