Winning a lottery means you’d have to have some amazing luck, better luck if your winnings are in the billions. Lotteries can be big payouts and once in a while, we get to see it. The industry has grown quite a lot and has produced some big jackpots to play for. Following are some of the world’s biggest winners from the past decade, along with their big-money values.
The podium
The biggest jackpot ever won was in January of 2016. There were three winning tickets and the $1.58 billion winnings were divided as such. Approximate of $528 million going to each winner.
When the first ticket winners arrived with their dogs to claim their prizes, the second prize winner elected to retire with his newfound fortune. The third winners gave most of their winnings away to various charities.
Keep it secret
An anonymous winner won $1.53 billion in 2019 becoming the largest prize ever won by a single ticket. Huge amounts of money can attract a lot of unwanted attention, so some lottery winners prefer to stay out of the spotlight.
Following the announcement of the draw, the winners chose an instant cash payout and walked away with $878 million.
Instant luck
On March 27th With less than $1000 in his account, Manuel Franco left to work and bought a lottery ticket on his way back. It was the winning ticket and he claimed his prize in April of 2019. He chose a lump sum payment of his $768 million winnings and went home with $326 million after paying state and federal taxes.
Fame comes calling
In august of 2017, 53-year-old Mavis Wanczyk claimed a ticket that won her a jackpot of $758 million, after legal deductions she ended up with $480 million. The first thing she did was quit her job at a medical center she worked at for 32 years. She went public via the media less than 24 hours later, garnering the attention of anyone with a tv.
Three lucky amigos
Merle and Patricia Butler and one other individual worked for Maryland’s education system, they pooled in and bought 60 lottery tickets. In March of 2012, they won $656 million.
The couple at the time in 41 years of marriage planned to buy a new car and tickets to their favorite baseball teams’ games. They referred to themselves as the three amigos, the third seems to have chosen to stay anonymous.
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