Buying a lottery ticket might not be the smartest decision you’ve made in your life, but when there are prizes of several million it’s hard to pass up the chance of potentially snatching yourself a huge sum of money for a minimal amount of work.
Yet, sadly, most of the world’s population would be lucky to even see a penny after investing so much into the lottery. Yet, thanks to websites that allow us to play online lottery, it’s become so convenient that we can’t help put but in a few dollars every time the Powerball or Mega Millions lottery is on.
But have you ever wondered how ridiculously large US lottery prizes have become over time? With so many eligible players, it’s only natural that the two most popular US lotteries, the Powerball and Mega Millions, have accumulated some incredible prizes over the years. In this article, we’ll be looking into the biggest prizes that US lottery winners have taken home.
1. $590.5 million – Powerball
On May 18th, 2013, 84-year-old Gloria Mackenzie in Florida was the only person to hold the winning ticket for this staggering Powerball draw. It was actually won with a quick-pick ticket, which goes to show that you don’t always have to pick your lucky numbers when you play. Even when you buy lottery tickets online there are options to have the computer randomly generate some numbers for you, and there’s just as good chance that those randomly generated numbers could be the winning ones.
2. $648.0 million – Mega Millions
On December 17th, 2013, two winners split this enormous jackpot. For the superstitious among us, one of the winners was a Georgian woman who bet with a combination of family birthdays on the winning ticket. The other winner was a delivery driver who called into work after winning and said he wouldn’t be coming back to work.
3. $656.0 million – Mega Millions
On March 30th, 2012, this huge jackpot was split between three winners. The first two winners were identified as a retired couple from Illinois and a group of friends known as the Three Amigos. The last winner has yet to be identified due to the winning ticket being purchased in Kansas which allows the winner to remain anonymous.
4. $758.7 million – Powerball
On August 23rd, 2017, a winning ticket was sold in Chicopee to a Mavis Wanczyk. The 53-year old lady said she would be retiring immediately and quitting her job (who wouldn’t!). This is the largest jackpot that has ever been won by a single person in the history of US lottery.
5. $1.6 billion – Powerball
Shattering the previous jackpot by over double, this ridiculous prize was split between three winners. One group appeared live on NBC’s “Today” show to talk about their winnings, another winner spoke a little about her experience and the third group of winners refused to speak to the media. Instead, they hired a group of advisers which told them to wait six months before claiming the prize to prevent the media from prying.
Source : https://www.playusalotteries.com
