Saturday came and pased and no winner still for the Powerball jackpot lottery. The winnings is now at US$400 million for the next draw which covers 43 states, Washington DC and the Virgin Islands.

The record draw though was at US$590.5 million which was won by an 84 year old woman from Florida last May. The winning numbers last Saturday was 21, 24,36, 42 and 45 with the Powerball number as 15. The odds of choosing the winning numbers is 172.5 million to one.

Winning though the lottery is not without its problems. The biggest headache is the cut of Uncle Sam in your winnings. One of the many issues that lottery winners face would be paying their taxes or be confused about what taxes need to be paid. 

One way would be giving away money to charity. Under current IRS laws, charitable contribution tax deductions are limited only to 50% of income. Thus, even when a winner gives up all their winnings to charity, the tax bill still remains for the other half of the winnings.