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$454 million jackpot driving Mega Million ticket salesReply
The real story here is the small interest rates are killing the Jackpot. (Not really thru the cash prize is the actual Jackpot after all.) in 2013 a 347.6 million cash Jackpot amount ended up as a 636 million annuity. Now our 357.7 million cash Jackpot amount is giving us a 508 million annuity. That's how strongly the government interest rates affect the annuity amount. The annuity is what brings in masses. The irony being the masses would all be told by their financial ex
Jul 6, 2016, 7:47 am - Resourceful - Lottery News

Mega Millions ponderously reaches $280 millionReply
Last night's rollover was 13 million for the annuity, but 11.7 for the cash lump-sum. The ratio of cash to annuity increased again, from about .666 to around .676. Has the annuity ever looked worse, as far as getting locked in to a low interest rate for 29 years? The cash payout should move up a bit on the top 25 list, despite not producing the frenzy-inducing major news headlines yet.
Jun 11, 2016, 8:16 am - ArizonaDream - Lottery News

Has anyone noticed the change?Reply
The confusion seems to come from the state lotteries calculating it one way and PB/MM calculating it another way. Some state lotteries, like Texas which was discussed in that other thread, start with a fixed annuity value and work backwards from that based on interest rates available and come up with a cash value. MM and PB, on the other hand, start with a cash value based on predicted/actual sales and then calculate how much an annuity would earn in interest to advertise an annuity value.
Feb 21, 2016, 1:22 pm - ArizonaDream - Lottery Discussion Forum

Powerball is kicking it up-10 millionaires were made tonight!!.Reply
Something to keep in mind about the annuity also is that the final value is based on the interest rate (technically the yield bid by the treasury trust) for the following business day when the jackpot is hit (i.e. Saturday would use Monday rates, not Friday). So in reality, cash held equal, the annuity changes every day. Since obviously nobody can predict future yields, they simply use the annuity factor that was utilized for the most recent jackpot in their estimations. They are conservative in
Jan 31, 2015, 12:17 pm - LottoMetro - Lottery Discussion Forum

Why not choose the annuity?Reply
So keeping in line with the original post... Annuities not indexed towards inflation are usually poor choices, that is if you have a choice in the 1st place (annuity or cash). Most scratcher's typically don't give you a choice, you're stuck with that non indexed annuity payout. When you factor in taxes and inflation on top of that, your payout at year 20 etc can be quite lousy... so don't quit your day job just yet if you're a lucky winner in that case. I don't think Lotto jackpots here in
Aug 3, 2014, 12:04 pm - Romancandle - Lottery Discussion Forum

Why not choose the annuity?Reply
That someone who told you was probably unaware of the fact every PB jackpot winner since 2007 took the cash and several said they talked to financial advisers before validating their ticket. After 30 years of paying taxes, taking the annuity means the $66 million is only worth $40 million and with conservative investments, $10 million in cash could double in 15 years and be worth $40 when the annuity ended. It doesn't necessarily means she wants it now but the annuity ties up HER MONEY for th
Aug 1, 2014, 11:45 pm - Stack47 - Lottery Discussion Forum

Why does the Mega Millions Jackpot not start at $40 mil?Reply
The cash option is actually the REAL jackpot, not the annuity. They take the cash amount and invest it to achieve the annuity. Yes they advertise the annuity. Simply marketing. Those that study the lotteries understand how it works.
Mar 24, 2014, 8:52 pm - rcbbuckeye - Lottery Discussion Forum

$344 MILLION: Mega Millions lottery jackpot skyrocketsReply
Hey Jill, I've been waiting on you to throw your hat in because I think you and I both see eye to eye on this CV vs annuity debate. However, since certain possibilities have given me pause to consider the annuity as a viable option, I wanted to get your professional take on this. Let's pretend circumstances presented itself so that the JP became large enough to pay out $30 to $40 million per year and the CV was 50% or less. Would choosing the cash still be a better value than opting for the
Dec 8, 2013, 4:32 pm - Teddi - Lottery News

$344 MILLION: Mega Millions lottery jackpot skyrocketsReply
With a $900M annuity, you wouldn't see the first gross $30M+ payment until 2030 (technically, 2031). Of course the average payment over the course of the annuity would be $30M, but the first gross payment would be less than $14M. The annuity would have to be nearly $2 billion to see a gross $30M payment upfront.
Dec 7, 2013, 11:02 pm - LottoMetro - Lottery News

Looks like the cash jackpot for MM & PB is going backwardsReply
Yes you are right on. But the biggest driver of the advertised jackpot is interest rates. The higher they go the larger the annuity is. In fact if interest rates were to double you'd see a 600million jackpot but only a 100million cash value before taxes. So at some point it would make more sense to take the annuity instead of cash if interests rates were much higher. In fact low interest rates from the FED have inflated cash values in the last decade relative to the annuity.
Nov 8, 2013, 12:18 pm - SeattleJoe - Jackpot Games Forum