If you have ever been to a lottery drawing, you probably know the importance of knowing how to win a huge Lottery jackpot. The odds of winning a jackpot are extremely low, but playing often does increase your chances of winning. Most advertised jackpots are actually sums of annuity payments over decades whereas alternative lump sum payouts are much smaller. To ensure that the jackpots grow larger, lottery operators reduce the odds of hitting them over time.

One way to increase your chances of winning is by buying more tickets and contributing more money. For example, if you win a lottery jackpot with a Lucky Penny, you could buy an extra ticket for your office’s Lucky Penny pool and put the money you won toward buying more tickets for the next drawing. If you win the jackpot and each person in your office bought a $1 ticket, you’d all win $1 million.

Depending on your winnings, the IRS will withhold 24% of your prize. The amount withheld depends on which winnings option you choose. Generally, you’ll only be required to pay taxes on your winnings for the year. If you win the jackpot, you’ll only owe taxes on the amount of money that you actually received in that calendar year. But, if you win the jackpot twice, you’ll owe two taxes.