Monday night's Powerball drawing came and went without a winner, and the jackpot climbed to $975 million — the biggest prize of the year and now the eighth-largest in the game's history. The Real Math Behind the JackpotWinners get a choice: collect the full $975 million spread across 30 annual payments, or take a lump sum of $422.3 million upfront. From there, the winner's actual tax bracket takes another bite — potentially the full 37% federal marginal rate — bringing the real take-home closer to $266 million. Choose the annuity instead, and those $32.5 million yearly payments fall to around $20.5 million after taxes. The odds remain what they've always been — 1 in 292.2 million — but somebody's going to end this losing streak eventually.