Overnight Millionaires: The Biggest Lottery Prizes in History

Why do people play the lottery? Like many questions we ask ourselves, there is no single answer to this. People may play the lottery for various reasons. In general, it is played in the hope of winning a large amount of money with a small outlay. Some people enjoy the thrill of the possibility of winning, while others may feel that playing the lottery is a way to dream of a life change. However low the odds of winning may be, the fact remains that the lottery is still the most "immediate" way to win such amounts of money.

There are also those who play the lottery as a way to support charitable causes or government programs, as a portion of lottery winnings often go to such initiatives.

The amount you can win in the lottery varies depending on the country and the draw you want to play. In general, the largest lottery prizes are those that offer the lowest odds of winning. Therefore, games that offer accumulated prizes, such as Powerball and Mega Millions in the United States, and Euromillions or Superenalotto in Europe, can offer prizes of several million dollars or euros.

However, there are also smaller lottery games that offer more modest prizes. For example, in the United States, some state lottery games offer prizes ranging from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars.

Although the choice of playing lotteries with larger prizes (but less chances of winning), or smaller, but easier to win prizes, depends on each person's goals, today we will focus on those lotteries that have drawn the most millionaire prizes in history, to learn the stories of those players who became mega millionaires overnight.

2,040 million dollars - Powerball (November 2022)

Powerball fever undoubtedly experienced its most historic moment in November 2022, when the accumulated jackpot for this draw surpassed the 2 billion dollars barrier, never before reached by any other lottery.

The prize was won by a single lucky winner, who bought his ticket in California, USA, although his identity remains unknown. What is known is that he chose to withdraw all the money in one lump sum, so he finally received $997 million after deducting the corresponding tax payment. We hope he continues to put his incredible prize to good use!

$1.586 billion - Powerball (January 2016)

The second largest prize in history also goes to the US Powerball lottery. In fact, for a long time it was the first lottery jackpot to surpass the billion-dollar barrier.

In this case, the prize was shared among three winning tickets that matched the same numbers, distributed among California, Florida and Tennessee, although again their identities remain unknown.

1,537 million dollars - Mega Millions (October 2018)

In third place, a second lottery from the United States sneaks into the list, the famous Mega Millions. For a long time, until the Powerball prize that tops this list, the $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot held the record as the largest prize won by a single player, as the money was all taken by a single ticket from South Carolina.

As in the other cases, the winner preferred to remain anonymous. However, it took him a long time to decide to collect the prize, since it was not until March of the following year when the anonymous winner claimed the prize through his lawyer.

1,350 million dollars - Mega Millions (January 2023)

We continue with the United States at the top of the list, as in the number 4 position is the resounding draw held by the Mega Millions lottery earlier this year. Although many expected the jackpot to grow even more, in the end only one player from Main managed to win the prize.

1,337 million dollars - Mega Millions (July 2022)

The top 5 of the biggest lottery prizes is closed again by the Mega Millions lottery, with a prize of $1,337 that was won by an unknown player from Illinois, who as in the previous cases, preferred to remain anonymous, so it is not known what he decided to spend the prize on.

Which are the lotteries with the biggest prizes?

As can be seen from this top 5, the lotteries that have historically awarded the most millionaire prizes are both from the United States, Powerball and Mega Millions. In fact, if we were to go down the ranking, we would have to go below the 40th place to find a lottery that is not Powerball or Mega Millions.

This is the case of the Italian lottery Superenalotto, which in February 2023 was crowned with the largest jackpot of a European lottery, drawing its accumulated jackpot of 371 million euros, distributed among a total of 90 players who matched the prize. In second place in the European ranking is the Euromillions lottery, which currently holds its record at 230 million euros.