The Biggest Powerball Winners of All Time

The Powerball lottery is among the most popular nation-wide lotteries in the U.S. (available in 45 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands), and is increasingly popular due to the incredibly large jackpots that have proliferated in recent years, with a number of top winners pulling in more than $1 billion in gross winnings. Those who win the Powerball must match all five Powerball numbers (from 1-69) and the Powerball number (from 1-26) either manually or using Quick Pick. 

At $2 per ticket, those who play this lottery have around a 1-in-292 million chance of winning it all, and a 1-in-24.87 chance of winning a price (prices start at $4). So, you’d have a better chance of being struck by lightning multiple times than winning the lottery, but the millions that play focus of course on the fact that there is a chance.

Winners who do bring home the big prize have the option of receiving their prize as an annuity (paid over 29 years) or as a lump-sum payment, with the cash amount of the prize discounted to a net present value based on where bond yields are trading. Hence, with bond yields rising, the overall annuity payment (the listed prize amount) has been larger, spurring more interest among casual lottery ticket buyers and those who buy tickets regularly.

In the spirit of dreaming big, let’s explore the biggest Powerball winners of all time.

Key Points About This Article:

• The Powerball lottery is among the most popular lotteries in the U.S. given its reach and the size of the prizes awarded to lucky winners.
• Here are some of the largest Powerball winners, and how much they took home at the end of the day.
• Also: Don’t gamble when it comes to your retirement! Take this quiz to see if you’re on track to retire (Sponsored)

The 3 (Really 6) Biggest Powerball Winners

A lottery turnstile with various ping pong balls inside

The three biggest Powerball prizes have each been had over the past decade, which says something about how rule changes in 2015 have changed the game in creating much more massive payouts for those who do eventually win.

The number of white balls increased from 59 to 69 as a result of these changes, while the Powerball pool decreased to 26 from 35. This move made it easier for lottery ticket buyers to win something (odds improved to around 1-in-24 to win something), but made winning the jackpot much harder. As such, fewer draws have been won, allowing the overall jackpot pool to grow to exorbitant sums.

The largest Powerball in history was won by Edwin Castro on November 7, 2022. The winning ticket was purchased at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California, with Castro opting to take the lump sum option of $997.6 million. The after-tax winnings Mr. Castro brought home was around $628.5 million, and he suggested following his win that California Public Schools would be “the real winner” from his prize.

The second-largest Powerball win was a jackpot worth $1.765 billion won on October 11, 2023. Theodorus Struyck won the ultimate prize, though he was part of a group. Struyck was the only member to claim the prize and chose a cash payout of $774.1 million.

In third place was a Powerball lottery which was won by three individuals (Mae Acosta, John and Lisa Robinson and Maureen Smith/David Kaltschmidt who shared a $1.5864 billion jackpot win. The Acostas were from California, the Robinsons from Tennessee, and the Kaltschmidts from Florida. Each couple opted for lump sum payments totaling around $983.5 million.

Other Notable Powerball Winners

A person counting stacks of cash

A number of anonymous winners took home the next three largest Powerball jackpots. On August 8, 2023 an anonymous winner from Florida claimed a $1.58 billion prize. A $1.537 billion prize was taken home by an anonymous winner in South Carolina on October 23,2018. And a January 13, 2023 jackpot also saw an anonymous winner celebrate a $1.348 billion jackpot somewhere in Maine. 

Two other jackpots amounting to more than $1 billion were won in the past two years, with a $1.326 billion prize won by Cheng and Duanpen Saephan & Laiza Chao of Oregon and a $1.08 billion prize won by Yanira Alvarez of California. 

At the time of writing, the current Powerball jackpot sits at around $240 million, though that isn’t a precise number (it’s an estimate). So, a few more draws will need to go by (maybe a few dozen) in order for lottery aficionados to have a chance at a 10-figure prize. But best be sure, I’ll be buying a ticket (even though it will be an “investment” with a negative net present value) at those levels too – there’s a chance, after all.

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