Largest Lottery Jackpots Ever: Winners, Places, and Dates

A lottery jackpot brings a ton of excitement, and huge jackpots drop all the time. Yet, people are almost always obsessed with the same question: What is the largest lottery jackpot ever won in history? 

GamblingNews has set out to answer this question and went a step further, offering details about the largest jackpot won in several lottery-obsessed countries, from the United States to Australia, and beyond. 

What is the Largest Lottery Jackpot Ever Won?

The largest jackpot won to date is the $2.04 billion won in the United States from the Powerball in 2022. The jackpot was won by a single ticket, one Edwin Castro, who became an overnight millionaire (he didn’t actually earn billions), having opted for the lump sum payment.

The jackpot was won in California, the USA, and Castro claimed the lump sum, which was almost $1 billion ($997.6 million), factoring in the federal and state taxes due when lottery winners exercise this option.

Ever since his win, Castro has been busy, managing his money smartly, including the purchase of multiple properties, which are part of the winner’s 10-year real estate plan. 

Castro spoke about it at length with the Wall Street Journal, offering a unique insight into the mind of a person who has secured the largest jackpot in US history. 

Castro has made various purchases, including a $3.8 million beachfront home in Malibu. On March 1, 2023, he also purchased a $25.5 million estate in Hollywood Hills, California. Castro later lost his Malibu property during the wildfire that burned almost 24,000 acres in January 2025.

What is the Largest Jackpot Won in Europe?

The United States is clearly the world’s leader when it comes to the sheer size of its jackpots. Yet, Europe is a close second, with the Old Continent featuring many multi-million jackpot pots of its own.

The largest such reward won in Europe was secured in Italy, where a person won €371 million from the SuperEnalotto, approximately $427 million in 2023. The jackpot was historic not only because of its size, but also because it was won by a syndicate of 90 people.

The new jackpot was way ahead of the previous record-holder in Italy, a jackpot secured in 2019 and worth €209 million ($240.70 million). The 2023 lottery win is also the largest to ever take place in Europe. The winners opted for the lump sum, claiming €156 million ($179.66 million).

Who Won the Largest Lottery Jackpot in the UK?

The largest jackpot to have ever been claimed in the United Kingdom has gone to an anonymous winner. Nobody really knows who the 2022 EuroMillions winner of £195 million ($240 million) is, nor what happened to them. 

Other Big Jackpot Winners in History 

However, this hardly exhausts the list of jackpot lottery winners. Big-time winners have been recorded all over the world. In fact, another huge lottery jackpot dropped in France in 2021, when someone won €220 million ($240 million). 

The player had won with 21, 26, 31, 34, and 49, along with lucky star numbers 2 and 5. It is the largest to have ever been won in the country. 

Another huge jackpot was one in Brazil when someone scooped the BRL 570 million top prize from the Mega Sena lottery game in 2023. 

The win translated to approximately $110 million and was a pivotal moment for the country’s lottery, making it the largest prize pot ever to have been secured. 

Besides Brazil, a large jackpot – one of the biggest – was won in Australia back in 2022. The Powerball win translated to AUD 160 million, or about $110 million. This jackpot, too, was picked by a syndicate of players – a total of 20 people, who claimed the sum as a lump sum. 

However, there was a twist. The largest jackpot was split between three tickets in the end, as two other people had claimed the pot using the same numbers. The pot was won with 10, 4, 12, 18, two, 34, and 7, with a Powerball of 7.

One more interesting story comes from Belgium, where 21 friends got to split the share of a €123 million jackpot.

How Many Billion-Plus Lottery Winners Are There?

By now, it is clear that the largest-ever lottery jackpot wins have mostly occurred in the United States, although there are a few outliers in other countries as well. However, the only instances of billion-plus lottery winners have taken place in the United States. 

In total, there are 14 such winners with the most recent one secured in 2022 – the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot. The smallest billion-plus jackpot stands at 1.05 billion and was won in 2021. 

Interestingly, only two billion-plus jackpots in history have been won before 2020 – a $1.58 billion pot from the Powerball in 2016 and a $1.53 billion pot in 2018. All big winners, with very few exceptions, have claimed the lump sum.

It is important to note that, based on local, state, and federal taxes, the headline figure of the jackpot may be reduced by as much as 40% or more, which means the actual payout is much smaller. 

Presently, four out of the five top jackpots are won by Powerball players, with Mega Millions dominating a single win in this ranking, all in the United States, too. 

Out of the 50+ jackpots, players in California have won more than 15 times from all the $400 million jackpots, making the state absurdly lucky. 

Largest Lottery Jackpots Are Different If You Judge by Cash Value

The largest lottery jackpots in history show a clear dominance by Powerball, which accounts for six of the top ten prizes, including the record $2.04 billion win in November 2022 with a $997.6 million cash value. 

Notably, most jackpots were won by a single ticket, with only three instances involving multiple winners. Cash values consistently range between $621 million and nearly $1 billion, typically representing around 45–60% of the advertised jackpot. 

Recent years stand out, with multiple billion-dollar wins recorded between 2022 and 2025, highlighting a surge in prize growth driven by rollovers and increasing ticket sales across both Powerball and Mega Millions games.