What You Need To Know About Lottery Taxes
With The Lottery Office, you have access to the biggest international lottery draws in the world! These international lottery jackpots can be significantly larger than those from the traditional Australian lotteries. However, unlike Australia, in some cases there may be taxes associated with an international win.
When you play in one of our lotteries, we purchase a matching ticket in the corresponding international lottery. This means that there could potentially be tax implications in the event of your win.
Here’s what you need to know about taxes when you play to win in the following lotteries:
USA Mega Lotto & USA Power Lotto
There are federal and state US taxes payable on larger US lottery winnings. The federal tax rate that is paid as a non-resident winner is 30% on payouts above USD $600. The state tax can vary slightly as they are set locally. US taxes are deducted from the prize amounts before payout by the state lottery office.
Matching EuroMillions tickets are purchased in Austria. Lottery winnings are not currently taxed in Austria.
A 20% tax is applied to winnings that exceed the equivalent of €500. The Lottery Office will pay you the exact amount of after-tax winnings collected from the matching SuperEnalotto ticket.
Matching Eurojackpot tickets are purchased in Germany. Lottery winnings are not currently taxed in Germany.
Lottery winnings are not currently taxed in the UK & Ireland.
Matching tickets are purchased in Spain. There is a tax rate of 20% on lottery winnings exceeding the equivalent of €40,000.
So why play international lotteries?
Sure, we have some big lottery jackpots right here in Australia, but there’s no comparison to the amounts you can win from the draws of some international lottery jackpots.
The biggest ever US Mega Millions win was a mind-blowing AUD $2.4 billion (August 2023)! This is nothing compared with the world-record-setting US Powerball jackpot of AUD$2.95 billion (November 2022).
Australia’s biggest lottery jackpot saw one lucky Aussie take home a first division prize of AUD $160 million. But while that’s still very impressive, it’s almost pocket change compared to an almost AUD$3 billion jackpot, even after taxes.
When it comes to European lotteries, the largest SuperEnalotto jackpot was AUD $575 million (Feb 2023), more than tripling Australia’s record of AUD $160 million! With prize money like this on offer, why wouldn’t you want a chance to win!
The good news? If you win an international lottery you won’t pay any additional Australian taxes or New Zealand taxes on your winnings. The Lottery Office doesn’t charge any fees or commissions, you get paid the same amount as collected from the overseas lottery win.
If you have any more questions about the international lottery taxes head over to our FAQs page, or if you have all the information you need go ahead and PLAY NOW!
FAQ
Does playing to win from international lotteries benefit Aussies?
Yes! We give a percentage of each purchase price to The Lottery Office Charitable and Community Benefits fund which donates to various charities and community groups. Some of the charities we have assisted over the years include Australian Street Aid Project, Foster Care Angels, Guide Dogs Victoria, the NSW Rural Fire Service and more.
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