Community Corner

'Ocean's 16' Tax Bill: $24 Million

Each winner will take home $3.87 million after taxes

The 16 co-workers at Ocean County's vehicle maintenance garage in Toms River won't be the only beneficiaries of last week's $448 million Powerball lottery jackpot.

Uncle Sam – as well as the New Jersey state treasury – will both be enriched through their shares of the haul.

The jackpot of $448 million had a cash value of $258 million, according to data provided by the New Jersey State Lottery Commission. Since there were three winning tickets – the others were sold in South Brunswick, N.J. and Minnesota – the jackpot was split into thirds.

The Ocean's 16 group won a total of $86,054,355, from which $21,513,589 will deducted for a 25 percent federal tax and $2,581,631 will be deducted for a 3 percent state tax.

The net prize after taxes is $61,959,135, which will be split evenly 16 ways. Each winner will receive a check for $3,872,445.94, according to lottery officials.

But the 3 percent tax isn't the only way the state will benefit from the drawing. New Jersey retailers sold $49,027,585 worth of Powerball tickets for the Aug. 7 drawing, $20,591,586 of which is estimated to come back to New Jersey in the form of commissions under its participation agreement in the multi-state lottery game.

Each ticket sold for the drawing had odds of 1 in 195 million of being a winner.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here