One New Jersey ticket wins the $847 million Powerball, but the cash option is $363.1 million

A single ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six numbers in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing and won the $847 million jackpot. Powerball's own site lists the winning numbers as 15, 34, 41, 53 and 56, with Powerball 21 and a 2X Power Play, and shows one jackpot winner, in New Jersey. The Powerball organization has not said where in the state the ticket was sold, and Fox Business reported that New Jersey law allows lottery winners to stay anonymous.

The number behind the number

The $847 million figure is the annuity: 30 payments over 29 years, rising each year. The winner can instead take a lump sum, and Powerball puts that cash value at $363.1 million. That is 42.9% of the headline prize (363.1 divided by 847), before any tax. The annuity averages about $28.2 million per payment (847 divided by 30), though early payments are smaller because the schedule increases annually.

The IRS says gambling winnings are taxable income that must be reported on a federal return, and some winnings are subject to withholding and reported on Form W-2G. Powerball's published prize figures are pre-tax, so what a winner actually keeps will be lower than either number. State rules and the winner's tax situation vary.

How big, how rare

• Rank: the ninth-largest Powerball jackpot ever won, according to Powerball.
• Odds: 1 in 292.2 million per ticket.
• The drought: the win ended a streak of 35 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner.
• Recent history: a $1.04 billion jackpot was won in Illinois in August, less than three months ago.

What happens next

The jackpot resets to $20 million, with a cash value of $8.6 million, for the next drawing on Saturday, November 7, according to Powerball's site. Drawings are held Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.

If you bought a ticket for Wednesday's drawing, check it against the numbers above or on Powerball's results page. Smaller prizes are paid at every level, so a ticket that missed the jackpot can still win. Sign the back of any ticket you hold and do not post a photo of it.

Sources: Powerball (results, next-drawing page); Fox Business; IRS, Gambling income and losses. Ratios and per-payment averages are the Chronicle's arithmetic. Play responsibly; the Chronicle does not encourage gambling. Help: 1-800-GAMBLER.