Kentucky Earns Tax From Lottery Win

March 19 - The winner of the humungous lottery Powerball win of $128.6 million was not the only happy party after the draw. After it was discovered that the winning ticket was sold in Georgetown, Kentucky, it became clear the state would benefit greatly from this win too.

The Kentucky state revenues amounted to over $3.5 million because the single lottery ticket was sold from within the state. Kentucky imposes a 6% state tax on lottery winnings.

If the winner of the lottery ticket decides to take out all the money in one lump sum, he will be $60 million richer. Of that amount however, 25% would go to federal taxes.

Even though Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear continues to rail road his way towards making online gambling in the state illegal, it didn't seem that he would mind getting all the revenue from the lottery win.

Governor Beshear and his team of anti-gambling honchos continued this week to find ways to deny gambling to Kentucky residents. The ongoing saga of a court case against online gambling sites located offshore took another turn when Kentucky lawyers requested the certain unnamed residents of the United States be added to the list. Luckily this request has so far been rejected by the courts.

One always has to question a governor's motives who continues to cite the social evils of online gambling, yet does not seem to have any problem cashing the millions in state revenue received from lottery and other wins.