The people who play the lottery daily, weekly, or even sporadically are all playing for one thing: the jackpot. For lottery games like the Mega Millions or Powerball, jackpots are always in the multiple millions of dollars.
Because the odds of hitting the big prize in the games I mentioned are, on average, 1 in 292,000,000, these jackpots can reach exorbitant amounts. In the past seven years, we have seen lottery jackpots reach a billion or more; yes, I said a billion dollars or more. We are going to dig into the Top 10 largest lottery jackpots ever and who won them. Here are numbers 6 to 10 with info on the Top 5 coming soon.
No. 10
Ticket Drawn: February 6, 2022
Location: Washington
Jackpot Amount: $754.6 million
When Becky Bell took her daughter grocery shopping at her local grocery store in February of 2022, she decided to try her luck at one of the largest lottery jackpots ever, $754.6 million. She had already purchased one ticket on the previous day, but because of the jackpot size, she decided to buy one more.
When she bought her tickets, the price hadn’t reached that amount yet but was at $747 million. She took that as a sign because the company she worked for, The Boeing Company, had just delivered its last 747 jumbo jet just a few days before. “That’s when it hit me…I had to buy one more ticket,” Bell had shared with lottery officials when she went to collect her prize.
When Bell scanned her tickets the day following day, she got the alert we all want to see: “Winning ticket. Claim at Lottery Office. ” Bell started to call her children, sharing the good news through tears of excitement and happiness. Bell initially thought she had won a $7 million dollar prize until her daughter corrected her and told her, “No, mom, $700 million,” and that’s when Bell really lost it.
Choosing the lump sum over 30 years of payments, Bell collected $407.2 million.
No. 9
Ticket Drawn: August 23, 2017
Location: Massachusetts
Jackpot Amount: $758.7 million
At the time, the lottery drawing for $758.7 million was the second-largest jackpot ever to be drawn in the United States. The first was in 2016 and eclipsed $1 billion. This jackpot was won by a single person in Chicopee, Massachusetts, 53-year-old hospital worker Mavis Wanczyk.
The night of the drawing, Wanczyk was at work at Mercy Medical Center. Her shift had just ended, so she decided to check her lotto ticket. When she realized she matched every number, she couldn’t believe it. She had to ask a co-worker to double-check. The co-worker immediately told her to sign the back of the ticket after realizing that Wanczyk had actually won the almost billion-dollar jackpot. “I couldn’t drive anywhere, I couldn’t do anything,” she shared with the local news. She was so shocked that her co-worker followed her home to ensure she made it.
There was initial confusion as to where this winning ticket was sold since a neighboring town’s convenience store sold a $1 million winner. The store owner said he planned on donating the $50,000 commission he gets for selling the ticket, while Wanczyk said her only plans were to retire early and hide in her bed for a while.
No. 8
Ticket Drawn: March 27, 2019
Location: Wisconsin
Jackpot Amount: $768.4 million
Did you ever have a day where you just wake up feeling lucky? Well, Manuel Franco did. It was March 27, 2019, and Franco had just left work. He walked to the closest convenience store and bought $10 of individual Powerball tickets.
Franco felt so lucky after purchasing those tickets that he contemplated winking at the security camera, he told Fox 6 Now. The next day, he went to work like normal, not yet checking his tickets. When he heard that Wisconsin was home to the winning tickets, he began to get excited. He planned on checking his tickets as soon as his shift was over.
Franco began to check his tickets. The third ticket he checked was a $4 winner from nailing the power ball; it wasn’t until he checked the 10th and final ticket that he found he won the jackpot, $768.4 million. “My heart started racing, blood pumping. My blood felt warm. Scream for about five or 10 minutes.” he shared with his local news outlet.
Franco said his father broke down and cried when he learned the news of his sons’ big win. As the sole winner of the jackpot, Franco elected for the lump sum payment of $477 million. He said he won’t play Powerball again.
No. 7
Ticket Drawn: January 22, 2021
Location: Michigan
Jackpot Amount: $1.05 billion
The winners of this jackpot were a unique bunch. The seventh largest Powerball in U.S. history was won by a lottery club in Oakland County, Michigan. Bought at a local Kroger grocery store, the first ever billion-dollar lotto ticket was sold to a four-person lottery club called the Wolverine FLL Club.
It was the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and lottery ticket sales were up 110 percent, pushing the jackpot higher than ever before. A member of the Wolverines remembered that they had yet to purchase their tickets, so she pulled into the local Kroger to ensure they were in the drawing.
“This kind of money will impact the families of our club members for generations to come.” shared the group’s attorney, Kurt D. Panouses.
The Kroger, which sold the ticket, received a $50,000 commission bonus, which they donated to the Food Bank Council of Michigan.
No. 6
Ticket Drawn: July 19, 2023
Location: California
Jackpot Amount: $1.08 billion
This jackpot was won by a single winner in California on July 19, 2023. The winner had two options for payouts: either $558.1 million or one payment, then 29 annual payments that increase by 5 percent each year.
The same week that the PowerBall surpassed $1 billion for the first time, so did the Mega Millions. Nobody had yet matched that. The $1.08 billion PowerBall jackpot winner has until 7/19/2024 to claim their ticket.
