Prize annuity

What a prize annuity is

A prize annuity pays a large prize in equal installments spread over years rather than as one lump sum. Lotteries made the idea familiar: the advertised figure is the total of every payment added together, not what the prize would be worth if paid today. Because money paid in the future is worth less than money paid now, the present cash value of an annuity is lower than its headline total. That difference is not a trick as long as it is disclosed; it is simply what the word annuity means.

An example

A hypothetical prize advertised at $1,000,000 and paid as an annuity of $50,000 a year for twenty years totals $1,000,000. A winner who could take the money today instead would receive a smaller amount, because the later payments are discounted for the years they have not yet arrived. The headline and the present value are two different numbers, and both are accurate as long as each is labeled for what it is.

In Speed Survivor

The Perfect 36 is paid this way. Thirty-six correct answers in a row across paid-entry contests wins $3,600,000.

The Perfect 36 grand prize is $3,600,000 paid as a thirty-year annuity of $120,000 a year, which is its total value and not its present cash value.

In plain terms: thirty payments of $120,000, one a year, adding up to $3,600,000. That is the total value of the prize. Opting in to the Perfect 36 is free, and code SPEED at sign-up turns it on from the first game; after that every question you answer in a paid-entry contest counts toward your run. Regular contest prizes are a different thing: they come from each contest's prize pool and settle the same night. How it works covers the contests, and the full rules are at app.speedsurvivor.com/perfect-36-rules.