The jackpot continues to grow to a record-breaking amount in Wyoming’s own lottery game, Cowboy Draw.
The drawing today is expected to be for $1,840,000. That completely obliterates Cowboy Draw’s previous record of $1,000,022.
If someone does take home the big prize, the lottery will take out 25%, leaving the winner with a check for approximately $1,380,000. Additional taxes would need to be paid by the winner, possibly up to 39.6 percent of the total winnings. Still, that would leave the winner with over $1 million.
CEO Jon Clontz said in an interview on January 29th, when the jackpot was $1.49 million, he expected the jackpot to hit soon.
“My gut just tells me it’s gotta hit any day,” Clontz said on January 22.
Now, the jackpot has continued to grow and several drawings have taken place since that interview, further elevating anticipation for a jackpot winner.
Clontz said the Lottery Corporation determined when the game first launched how high the jackpot could possibly go.
“We thought we could see the jackpot roll enough to get up to maybe 1.8 million, but that was going to be a real rare happening and not a routine thing—just because of the odds,” Clontz said.
Speaking of odds, the chance of winning the jackpot is about one in 610,000. That’s significantly higher than national lottery games with chances of winning around one in 292 million for Powerball.
In addition, the Cowboy Draw has a 68% payout, meaning if you purchase a try at the Cowboy Draw you have a 68% chance of winning some amount of money, even if it’s only five dollars.
The next drawing for Cowboy Draw takes place at 2 p.m. Monday, February 8. Ticket sales for that drawing will end at 1:45 p.m.