Millionaire for Life Payout: How the New Lifetime Lottery Game Pays (2026)

Millionaire for Life pays its top prize as $1,000,000 per year for the rest of the winner's life, guaranteed for a minimum of 20 years, or as a one-time $18,000,000 cash option. The second prize pays $100,000 per year for life with a $2,200,000 cash option. The game launched on February 22, 2026 as the nationwide replacement for Lucky for Life and Cash4Life.

Because the game is only months old, most winners and their families are reading the rules for the first time. Below, we cover how the annuity works, the cash election you make at the ticket machine, what happens when a winner dies, the proof-of-life paperwork that starts in year 21, and how the prize splits when several people win at once.

Millionaire for Life Payout Chart

The top prize pays a flat $1,000,000 every year, so cumulative payments reach $18,000,000 in year 18 and $20,000,000 at the end of the guaranteed term. A winner who collects all 30 years shown below receives $30,000,000 before tax, against an $18,000,000 cash option.

<a href="https://www.catalinastructuredfunding.com/blog/millionaire-for-life-payout"><img src="https://www.catalinastructuredfunding.com/images/blog/millionaire-for-life-payout-chart-2026.png" alt="Millionaire for Life payout chart, 2026" width="1600" height="1013"></a>
<p>Chart: Catalina Structured Funding, "Millionaire for Life Payout (2026)," https://www.catalinastructuredfunding.com/blog/millionaire-for-life-payout</p>

The table runs the same 30 years with federal tax applied to each payment. Two columns matter, and they are not two estimates of the same thing. Withholding is what the lottery keeps back at payout, a flat 24% on any payment over $5,000 (26 U.S.C. § 3402(q) (opens in a new tab)). Final liability is what you owe under the 2026 single-filer brackets in IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (opens in a new tab), treating the payment as your only income for the year with no deductions, the same simplification our lottery tax guide uses. On $1,000,000 that is $240,000 withheld and $325,957 owed, so $85,957 more is due at filing each year. State tax is not included.

Each payment is taxed in the year you receive it. That is the cash-method rule in IRC § 451(a) (opens in a new tab) and Treasury Regulation § 1.451-1(a), and IRS Publication 525 applies it to state lottery prizes paid in installments. A cash-or-annuity choice made within 60 days of winning does not pull the whole prize into year one, because § 451(j) tells the IRS to disregard a "qualified prize option" on a prize payable over at least 10 years. Withholding follows the same pattern. The lottery takes 24% out of each annual payment as it is made, not out of the prize's present value up front (Treas. Reg. § 31.3402(q)-1; IRS Private Letter Ruling 8552022). Years 21 to 30 are shown because the game pays for life, but they are life-contingent and stop at the winner's death.

Two things fall out of the table. The annuity's guaranteed 20 years alone pay $20,000,000 gross, $2,000,000 more than the cash option before anyone counts the lifetime tail. And the cash option's after-tax value, about $11,384,043 at the same brackets, is what a winner should compare against the after-tax annuity column, not against the $30,000,000 headline. Our lump sum vs annuity guide covers the investment side of that choice.

What Is Millionaire for Life?

Millionaire for Life is a $5 multi-state lottery game administered by the Multi-State Lottery Association, the same body that runs Powerball. Drawings are held daily at 11:15 PM Eastern. Players pick five numbers from 1 to 58 plus one Millionaire Ball from 1 to 5, according to the official game page on Powerball.com (opens in a new tab).

The game replaced two long-running lifetime games at once. Lucky for Life and Cash4Life both held their final drawings on February 21, 2026, and Millionaire for Life began the next day. It sells in 31 jurisdictions, including new lifetime-game states Mississippi and West Virginia. Four jurisdictions that sold a predecessor game did not join: Delaware retired Lucky for Life without a replacement, and Florida, Maryland, and Missouri stepped away from the lifetime format when Cash4Life ended. Delaware is the only one that explained why. Its lottery director pointed to the new game's $5 ticket price, saying player feedback showed concern about the increased cost of the replacement. The other three states have not publicly explained their decisions.

Winners of the retired games keep receiving their payments. If you hold a Lucky for Life or Cash4Life annuity, the ending of ticket sales changed nothing about your checks. We cover those games in our Lucky for Life payout guide and our overview of lifetime lottery prizes.

How the Millionaire for Life Payout Works

The top prize pays $1,000,000 per year for the winner's natural life, with the first 20 years guaranteed. The official rules describe the structure as payment "on an annual basis for life, or for the twenty (20) year term of the Guaranteed Annuity Portion, whichever is longer."

In practice the annuity has two parts. The Guaranteed Annuity Portion covers years 1 through 20 and gets paid no matter what. The Deferred Annuity Portion covers year 21 onward and continues only while the winner is alive. A winner who lives 40 years collects $40 million. A winner who dies in year 3 still generates 20 years of payments, with the balance going to their estate.

The second prize works the same way at $100,000 per year for life, with the same 20-year guarantee. Lower tiers pay fixed cash amounts, including $7,500 for matching four numbers plus the Millionaire Ball.

The Cash Option Is Chosen at the Ticket Machine

Millionaire for Life makes you pre-select cash or annuity when you buy the ticket, and the choice is one-directional. Under the official rules, "the Cash Option selection being irrevocable, while players selecting the Annuity Option can change to the Cash Option at the time of prize claim."

Here is what that means in plain terms. If you mark cash at purchase, you are locked in. If you mark annuity, you keep both doors open and can still take the cash when you claim. The safe play for keeping options open is selecting the annuity at purchase.

The trade-off mirrors every jackpot decision. Our guide to lottery lump sum vs annuity walks through the math, and our state-by-state lottery tax guide covers what federal and state taxes take from each annual check.

What Happens If the Winner Dies

Death during the first 20 years sends the remaining guaranteed payments to the winner's estate. Death after year 20 ends the payments entirely. The New Jersey official rules state it directly: "In no event shall installment payments made in the Deferred Annuity Portion of the Annuity Option continue after the Annuitant's death."

That two-part structure is what makes lifetime prizes different from a Powerball annuity, where every scheduled payment eventually reaches your heirs. The guaranteed 20 years is real, transferable value. The lifetime tail is a bet on your own longevity. We explain this distinction in depth in our guide to life-contingent lottery payments.

The Proof-of-Life Affidavit Starts in Year 21

Once the guaranteed portion ends, the lottery starts checking that you are still alive before each payment. The New Jersey rules require it in writing: "Prior to the beginning of payment of the Deferred Annuity Portion, Lottery will send an affidavit letter to the Annuitant requesting proof of life... The Annuitant shall sign the affidavit letter, and the letter shall bear the seal of a notary public."

The affidavit repeats every year, and missing it stops the money. If the winner fails to return the signed, notarized letter, the lottery "shall not make any further Deferred Annuity Portion payments," and no interest accrues on payments held up by missing paperwork. Long-term winners should treat the annual affidavit like a tax deadline.

What Happens If Several People Win

Up to 20 winners in a single drawing still receive lifetime annuities, splitting the $1,000,000 annual payment equally with a floor of $50,000 per year for life each. Two winners get $500,000 per year each, four get $250,000, and twenty get the $50,000 floor. Each winner can take their share of the $18 million cash value instead.

At 21 or more winners the annuity disappears. The rules provide that "no Annuity Option shall be available. Rather, the Jackpot Prize Cash Value shall be divided equally among all Jackpot Prize Winning Tickets and paid in one lump sum payment to each Winner." The second-tier prize follows the same pattern, with liability capped and paid as cash-only above 20 winning plays.

Can You Sell Millionaire for Life Payments?

Lifetime lottery payments can often be sold for a lump sum through a court-approved transfer, but the rules vary sharply by state and the guaranteed portion is what carries the value. New Jersey illustrates how specific the limits get. Under the NJ game rules and N.J.S.A. 5:9-13h, a winner "shall not be permitted to assign any annual payments following the 18th annual payment," and the life-contingent Deferred Annuity Portion cannot be assigned at all.

Other states set their own assignment windows through their lottery statutes, and every transfer runs through a court order with judicial findings. New York caps the discount rate a buyer may use at 10 percentage points over the Wall Street Journal prime rate under Tax Law § 1613, while some states prohibit assigning life-payable prizes entirely.

Catalina Structured Funding purchases lottery annuity payments, including lifetime prizes, and our team can tell you whether your state and your specific prize allow a transfer before anything is promised. We have completed more than 4,000 transactions over 15+ years, and the amount we quote is the amount you receive. Call (800) 317-3769 or request a free, no-obligation review online.

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