Cash or annuity?
A US jackpot is advertised as the total of 30 yearly payments. Take the cash instead and you get far less: for Mega Millions' $505 million estimate of 6 November 2026, $213.3 million, or 42.2% of it. Which is worth more depends on what the cash could earn: the payments are the same as growing the cash at 5.49% a year.
A jackpot paid yearly
The example is Mega Millions' estimate for the draw of Friday 6 November 2026. The 4.0% is only an example; type what you could earn, after costs.
Check the figures: cash up to the advertised amount, 2 to 60 payments, a rise of up to 20% and a rate from −5% to 30%.
The first payment is $7.6 million and the last, payment 30, is $31.3 million.
At 4.0% a year, the payments are worth $262.9 million today, more than the cash by less than the cash by $49.6 million.
The payments and the cash are worth the same at 5.49% a year. If the cash could earn more than that, after costs, the cash is worth more; if less, the payments.
Mega Millions pays an initial payment followed by 29 more, each 5% larger than the one before. Powerball's rules also set 30 payments and leave their sizes to the lottery association's policies; the 5% here stands for both, and you can change it.
A prize paid monthly
The top prize of the Greek Lotto is €10,000 a month for 10 years.
Check the figures: an amount, 1 to 600 months and a rate from −5% to 30%.
120 payments of €10,000 add up to €1,200,000. At 4.0% a year they are worth €994,269 today, 82.9% of their total.
How it is worked out
A sum paid in k years is worth today what you would have to set aside now, at the rate you type, to have it then: the sum divided by (1 + rate) to the power k. The first payment is made now. The payments are worth the total of those amounts, and the rate at which they equal the cash is found by narrowing it down. A second, independent calculation, payment by payment, must give the same figures, or the page is not published.
What this leaves out
- Tax: every amount is before tax.
- Inflation: to count it, type a rate after inflation.
- The final amount: Mega Millions says the cash and the payments rest on actual sales and may differ from the estimate.
Sources
- Mega Millions questions and answers: the 30 payments, each 5% larger, checked 7 November 2026
- Mega Millions: the estimate and cash option for 6 November 2026, checked 7 November 2026
- Powerball game rules, Iowa Lottery (from the draw of 26 March 2025): 30 payments, checked 7 November 2026