There is no easier way to become an instant millionaire than to win the lottery, and there have been some winners that became billionaires overnight. Of course, winning the lottery is one of the most impossible things in the world to do. Despite the odds, millions are still trying each week.
The prizes handed out through the lottery in the United States have gotten massive over the last few years, especially of late. The lucky winners of these huge jackpots tend to try to keep their identity unknown, as this can become a big security threat.
It is important to know that the actual amount of money that is won doesn’t equal what is announced as there are taxes involved. Winners can also choose between one lump sum or payouts that are made over a certain period of time.
Here are the 10 biggest lottery jackpots of all-time, and as much information about the winning ticket as has been made available.
10. $758.7 Million (August 23, 2017)
When you scroll down and look at the rest of this list, a jackpot of $758.7 million isn’t going to even seem that big. That’s still a life-changing amount of money and that’s what the Powerball jackpot got up to back in August 2017.
Ffity-three-year-old Mavis Wanczyk from Massachusetts won the prize that year.She chose the lump sum and ended up with just $336 million after paying taxes.
9. $768.4 Million (March 27, 2019)
The ninth-largest jackpot also came from the Powerball. With no large winner in 2018, the prize grew to $768.4 million in 2019. Manuel Franco of Wisconsin was the lucky winner of that Powerball jackpot. (State law required that he had to come forward with his name to claim the prize.)
Not only did Franco cash in big time through the Powerball, but he waited less than two days to announce that he was quitting his job.
8. $1.050 Billion (January 22, 2021)
The winning Mega Millions ticket back on January 22, 2021, was sold in Novi, Michigan. It’s quite a unique story. While there was just one single ticket that produced a winner, the prize money had to be split up.
That’s because the winning ticket belonged to the Wolverine FLL Club of Oakland County. This group of four formed to play the lottery. All of that hard work and patience paid off in a big way with a win of over $1 billion. They chose a lump sum amounting to $776 million. That translated to $557 million after taxes.
7. $1.080 Billion (July 19, 2023)
As you continue down this list you’ll see that 2023 has been a huge year for massive lottery jackpots. Back on July 19, 2023, a winning Powerball ticket was sold in downtown Los Angeles. As of this writing, the winner has yet to come forward and claim their prize.
That would be a massive oversight if the winner doesn’t come forward. Lottery rules state they have one year to claim the prize. After that time, the money would go back into the system. Los Angeles County has also produced two winning tickets for a jackpot of more than $1 billion in less than a year.
6. $1.337 Billion (July 29, 2022)
You won’t find much information out about the winner of the Mega Millions jackpot back on July 29, 2022. That’s because the winning ticket was sold in Des Plaines, Illinois. This is one of the states that has laws to protect winners of the lottery.
It was revealed that the winner chose to take a lump sum payment that amounted to more than $780 million.
5. $1.35 Billion (January 13, 2023)
An anonymous person from Lebanon, Maine was able to get their 2023 year off on the right foot. They collected the $1.35 billion Mega Ball jackpot. (Maine is a state where you can come forward personally to claim a jackpot or form a trust to do it anonymously.)
The lump sum payout was just over $723 million. For anyone that’s still a life-changing amount of money.
4. $1.54 Billion (October 23, 2018)
For a while, it looked as if the $1.54 Mega Millions jackpot was going to go unclaimed. No one stepped forward to claim the prize until March of the next year. The winning ticket was sold in Simpsonville, South Carolina.
The winner, a woman who chose to be anonymous, took a lump sum payment that amounted to $877,784,124.
3. $1.586 Billion (January 13, 2016)
Back on January 13th, 2016, history was made. This Powerball jackpot was the first time that a lottery jackpot went over the $1 billion mark. This is also the only instance on the list where there was three tickets sold with the correct numbers.
The jackpot was shared by one person in California, another in Florida and the third in Tennessee. Since the prize money had to be split, each winner took home a little more than $327 million.
2. $1.602 Billion (August 8, 2023)
The second-largest lottery winner is the most recent. There was a single winner of the Mega Millions back on August 8, 2023. This was the largest Mega Millions prize ever handed out. Within winner through 2022, it just continued to roll over into 2023.
The winning lottery ticket was sold at Publix in Neptune Beach, Florida. At the time of this writing, the winner had not been announced. Florida was extremely lucky in August as there was also a single ticket sold that won the $1 million prize.
1. $2.04 Billion (November 7, 2022)
The largest lottery jackpot that was ever given out was done back in November of 2022, and it was a whopping $2.04 billion. The Powerball just continued to roll over in 2022 and customers continued to buy tickets at a record clip in order to get a chance to win.
It was immediately announced that the winning ticket was sold at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California. It took some time for the winner to be revealed. Ultimately, in February of 2023 it was announced that Edwin Castro was the lucky winner. He opted for a lump sum payment of $997.6 million.
Since lottery jackpots continue to trend up in recent years, it’s likely that there will be another $2 billion winner at some point.