There was no winner in Wednesday's Lotto Texas jackpot drawing, sending the largest advertised jackpot in the state lottery in more than 12 years even higher to an estimated $68.75 million for Saturday night -- the eighth largest jackpot in Lotto Texas history.
The next drawing offers an estimated cash value of $41.9 million. If someone wins Saturday night and takes the cash value option, they'll pay approximately $10,056,000 in federal taxes (24%) and take home roughly $31,844,000. Texas lottery winners don't pay a state tax on lottery winnings.
“This is quite an exciting time for Lotto Texas players, as they have a chance to play for one of the largest advertised jackpot prizes in the game’s history,” said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery. “One thing we know for sure is that when someone does win this enormous Lotto Texas jackpot prize, they will be a Texas Lottery player. We are looking forward to celebrating our largest Lotto Texas jackpot winner since May of 2010 and the first one of this year. As this jackpot continues to grow, we want to remind our players to play responsibly. It only takes one ticket to win.”
Texas Lottery officials say if you ever end up with a winning ticket, sign the ticket and put it in a safe place. Then, seek financial and legal advice and call the Texas Lottery to schedule an appointment to claim the prize.
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In March Grief said that while the jackpot prize remains up for grabs, many Texas Lottery players have been coming away with lower-tier Lotto Texas prizes during the recent jackpot run, so he encouraged players to check their tickets after every drawing to see if they have won other cash prizes.
If there is no jackpot winner for Saturday night’s Lotto Texas drawing, the jackpot prize for Monday, April 17 will climb to $69.75 million.
The latest annuitized jackpot is the third-largest in North America. Lotto Texas is only eclipsed by multi-state jackpots Mega Millions and Powerball, whose jackpots are $476 million and $219 million, respectively.
Saturday's drawing is the 90th in the current Lotto Texas jackpot run since starting as an estimated annuitized $5 million for the Sept. 19 drawing.
This is the largest Lotto Texas jackpot up for grabs since the drawing on May 29, 2010, when the advertised jackpot reached an estimated $97 million.
Lotto Texas has boasted nine different winning jackpot drawings in the $50 million range throughout the game’s 30-year history. The last time was for the drawing on Jan. 26, 2005, when an advertised $57 million prize was claimed by a Garland resident
