The singing superstar was included in the Forbes list of billionaires after the huge success of her Eras tour
Surpassing Taylor Swift’s wealth became a reality for an Oregon lottery winner who scooped a $1.3 billion (£1.049 billion) jackpot in April. The winner became richer than the singer in just one day. The superstar was named to Forbes’ billionaires list the same month following the huge success of her Eras tour and music sales.
The lottery winner, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, matched all the numbers and became a millionaire overnight. The winning ticket was reportedly purchased at a Plaid Pantry supermarket in northeast Oregon. The store reportedly made a whopping $100,000 for the sale of the winning ticket.
Lottery director Mike Wells said at the time: “This is an unprecedented jackpot win for the Oregon Lottery. We take every precaution to verify the winner before paying out the prize money.”
Plaid Pantry President and CEO Jonathan Polonsky said, “Plaid Pantry is thrilled that one of our 104 Oregon stores sold the $1.3 billion Powerball ticket. This store is one of our newest and most popular stores. Oregon Lottery proceeds fund many programs that benefit everyone in the state, and we have been a proud partner of the Oregon Lottery since its inception. Our 700+ Plaid employees extend their congratulations to our lucky customer!”
The jackpot has a cash value of $621 million (£490 million) if the winner opts for a lump sum rather than an annuity paid out over 30 years, with an immediate payout followed by 29 annual instalments, reports show. In the US, when you win the lottery, you have the option of cashing out your winnings all at once or in instalments, usually spread over 29 years.
If you choose the lump sum, you’ll likely be pushed into the highest tax bracket, which is 37%. Lottery companies withhold 24% of all winnings over $5,000. This means that if you win more than $5,000, you’ll have to pay the difference between the amount withheld and the total tax.
According to Madison Trust Company, the odds of winning the Powerball grand prize are 1 in 292,201,338, and the odds of winning $1 million in Powerball are 1 in 11,688,053. As reported, the prize was the fourth-largest Powerball jackpot in history and the eighth-largest among jackpot games in the United States, according to the Oregon Lottery.
The largest was a $2.04 billion Powerball win in 2022 by Edwin Castro, who had odds of 1 in 292.2 million to win the largest lottery jackpot ever.
Castro, however, was not a billionaire and chose to receive his winnings in a single, reduced amount of $997.6 million. The winning ticket for the largest Powerball jackpot ever was purchased at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California, and the store received a $1 million bonus for selling the ticket.
