Comfortable and Furious

America’s Biggest Jackpot Winners


In America, everything is ‘go big or go home’. From the portion sizes in fast-food restaurants to the size of casinos. Winning a jackpot can be life-changing, even heading to the local bingo hall to play jackpot bingo can bring in a big pot of spare change. The odds might not be in your favor, but thousands still buy a ticket each week. Here we’re going to take a look at some of the biggest jackpots in America.

$687.8 million

The Powerball is a popular lottery for people to play. As recently as October 27th 2018, two tickets were drawn as winners to this huge jackpot; one in Iowa and one in New York. Each winner is going to receive a large amount, so you would expect them to have a list ready.

The first winner in New York, Robert Bailey, said he would “do the right thing” with the money and “continue to play the lottery”. The second winner in Iowa, Lerynne West, was to establish a charitable foundation, retire and “go on a long vacation – or two.”

$758.7 million

On the 23rd August 2017, the enormous Powerball jackpot saw just one winner, Mavis Wanczyk in Massachusetts. This particular jackpot, at the time, was the largest jackpot to be received by a single winner. Mavis immediately called her workplace at the Medical Center and quit her job, going against the advice given from financial planner Nick Holeman.

$768.4 million

Another jackpot was won by a single ticket earlier this year in Wisconsin. The owner of the ticket collected their winnings anonymously. The winner of the jackpot would also have the choice to receive one payout of $447 million (after taxes) or have the $768.4 million sum payout over 29 years. Which would you choose?

Estimated $1.537 billion

In the Mega Millions, players also have the option to remain anonymous, which is what this winner did. The winning numbers were announced on the 23rd October 2018, but it took the winner of the jackpot from South Carolina over four months to come forward. It has been confirmed that the winner was female and that she donated a lot of her winnings to the Hurricane Florence relief. The question is, did she take the annuity pay-out or the lump sum?

$1.586 billion

It is difficult to comprehend that amount of money, could you imagine one person winning it all? In reality, more than one person won this jackpot – it was split three ways. However, it remains the largest jackpot in the history of the US. Rewind to 13th January 2016, where three people shared this jackpot. One in California, one in Tennessee and the third in Florida.

The Robinson family from Tennessee chose to reveal their identities and three years on are comfortable in their multi-million-dollar home, complete with home theater and a private lake. The Floridian winner announced that she wanted to remain anonymous but said she would continue to play. The third winner from California remained completely anonymous also but mentioned they had designated most of the money for a trust to benefit a charity close to their hearts.


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