Forty million. Tomorrow at 5:00 PM.

Forty. Not 39.8. Not 40.2. Forty million francs , round as an anniversary. The balls fall tomorrow evening. Deadline: Saturday, 31 October, 5:00 PM. What would be left of it – and why everyone answers that differently This is where it gets more interesting than most people think. And we need to correct something we presented too simply in earlier articles. First: the tax free threshold. Lottery winnings are tax free up to around CHF 1'071'000 – per win, not per year. Some cantons set the threshold even higher. Second: the withholding tax. On the portion above that, the federal government automatically deducts 35% at payout. On forty million, that's around 13.6 million, regardless of where you live. And now the point we ourselves presented too briefly: These 35% are not your tax bill. They are a security levy. Anyone who declares the win correctly in their tax return gets it refunded. Third: the actual tax. The amount above the threshold counts as income – and that means the federal government, the canton and the municipality all have a say. You may deduct 5% in stake costs, capped at CHF 5'000. This is exactly where everything is decided. A published cantonal comparison for a large lottery win shows tax burdens ranging from around 22% to around 46% of the taxable portion. Applied to our forty million, it looks like this: Place of residence Tax burden Of 40 million, roughly remaining Zug around 23% 31 million Appenzell Innerrhoden around 24% 30.5 million Vaud around 43% 23.5 million Geneva around 46% 22 million Approximate figures. The rates come from a published cantonal comparison and are converted to this jackpot; the actual burden also depends on municipality, marital status and other income. Between the cheapest and the most expensive place of residence lies around nine million francs – solely because of the postcode. No one can give you an exact figure without knowing your municipality, your marital status and your other income – and we are not tax advisors. Whoever wins should first call a specialist. And only then the relatives. But even at the lower end: 22 million corresponds, at the Swiss median wage of around CHF 6'800 per month, to roughly 270 years of work. In Zug it would be over 380. Two hundred and seventy years in the worst case. On a Saturday evening, without working a single day of it. The odds, unvarnished 1 : 31'474'716 for the jackpot. Per ticket. Always – whether the pot stands at four or at forty million. What changes with the jackpot size is not your chance, but the value of a match. And unfortunately also the number of players: with large jackpots, around half a million more tickets are submitted than with small ones. More players means more co winners in the event of a win. One move that costs nothing: pick at least two numbers from the range 32 to 42 . Millions of tickets never go beyond 31 because they mirror birth dates. Two seconds of effort, the same chance – but a smaller pool if it works out. Stake Tickets Jackpot chance CHF 5 2 1 : 15'737'358 CHF 10 4 1 : 7'868'679 CHF 25 10 1 : 3'147'472 Tomorrow, 5:00 PM Stake an amount whose loss you won't feel on Sunday. Five francs is enough. And then the best part of the lottery is yours: the hours between submission and draw. The ones in which you briefly calculate whom you would call first. The ones in which life has two directions for one evening. → Play now at Swisslos https://www.swisslos.ch/de/swisslotto/einzeltipps/spielen.html tipp → Create a forecast and record your ticket in the playbook https://lottoprognose.ch/auth?tab=register We wish you good luck and every success for tomorrow. Those who don't play can't win. 🍀