why do 95% of lottery winners choose the lump sum let's break it down a single lucky ticket from Texas hit all six numbers winning a whopping $800 million but hold on to your hats folks because taxes are about to take a big bite opting for the lump sum that's $44.24 Federal tax withholding dropping it to $7.2 million and if you're in the top tax bracket you you could see it shrink further to $254.99 million per year sliced to 16.8 million after taxes good news Texas doesn't tax lottery winnings so what would you do with your jackpot lump sum or annual payments let us know in the comments