Hard to believe, but lottery winners were once just regular lottery players!
They played the lottery every week, until that lucky moment when they finally hit upon the winning numbers.
We have rounded up some of the biggest lottery winners in history and the winning numbers behind them! Take a look:
1. US$1.56 BILLION – American Powerball
Officially the world’s biggest lottery jackpot!
Powerball winning numbers: 8, 27, 34, 4, 19 and Powerball 19
Lottery Winners: There were 3 lottery winners for this massive prize. One winning ticket was sold to John and Lisa Robinson from Tennessee. The second winner to come forward was Maureen Smith, a 70-year-old from Florida, who claimed she had played the same numbers for years. The third couple with winning numbers were Marvin and Mae Acosta, who claimed their winnings 6 months after the draw.
John and Lisa Robinson from Tennessee who shared in the US$1.56 BILLION jackpot. Source: money.cnn.com
2. US$656 MILLION – American Mega Millions
Officially Mega Million’s biggest jackpot till date!
Winning numbers: 2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and mega ball 23
Lottery Winners: Three friends claimed the world’s 2nd largest jackpot on 30 March 2012. They had pooled their money to buy 60 tickets – and one of which was the winning ticket! The three public school employees in Maryland chose to stay anonymous. These lucky lottery winners shared their win with another couple, Merle and Patricia Butler, from Illinois.
Three friends who won half of the world’s 2nd largest jackpot, chose to stay anonymous. Source: Telegraph.co.uk
3. US$648 MILLION – American Mega Millions
Winning numbers: 8, 14, 17, 20, 39, and mega ball 7
Lottery Winners: Two lottery winners, delivery driver Steve Tran and Ira Cutty split the winnings of this massive jackpot in 2013. After stepping forward to claim her win, Curry reportedly went into hiding.
4.US$590 MILLION – American Powerball
Officially one of the biggest undivided lottery jackpot in history!
Powerball Winning numbers: 10, 13, 14, 22, 52 and Powerball 11
Lottery winners: The lucky lottery winner behind this huge jackpot was Gloria Mackenzie. This 84-year-old Florida widow won the jackpot prize all to herself by chance – she purchased the ticket using QuickPick, after another customer let her go ahead in line!
Gloria Mackenzie, who won the largest undivided Powerball jackpot. Source: money.cnn.com
5. US$587.5 million – American Powerball
Powerball Winning numbers: 5, 16, 22, 23, 29 and Powerball 6
Lottery Winners: Two lottery winners shared this 2012 jackpot. One half went to a couple Mark and Cindy Hill in Mississippi, who stated that their granddaughter would finally get that pony she always wanted!
Mark and Cindy Hill, lucky Powerball winners! Source: cnn.com
OTHER RECORD JACKPOT WINS:
€190 million – EuroMillions
Officially the record EuroMillions jackpot!
EuroMillions Winning Numbers: 3, 9, 20, 30, 42 and bonus numbers 1 and 6
Lottery Winners: This enormous prize went to an anonymous single ticket holder in Portugal on October 24th, 2014! This was the second time in the history of EuroMillions that a jackpot of this size was won.
An anonymous winner from Portugal won the record EuroMillions jackpot!
€101.7 million – Spanish Lotto
Officially the largest Spanish Lotto jackpot till date!
Winning Numbers: 1, 2, 11, 21, 22, 44 and bonus number 15
Lottery Winner: This is the highest Spanish Lotto jackpot till date when it reached €101.7 million after 56 rollovers in October 2015! One lucky lottery winner matched all 6 numbers and the bonus number and took home the entire prize!
An anonymous winner won the record Spanish La Primitiva Lotto jackpot!
€18.9 million – Irish Lotto
Officially the biggest Irish Lotto jackpot till date!
Winning Numbers: 4, 12, 26, 27, 29, 37 and lucky number 38
Lottery Winners: Irish Lotto’s biggest jackpot was won by a syndicate of workers from a quarry. The lucky lottery winners consisted of 15 men and 1 woman from the garage section of the plant, who played a €32 QuickPick entry!
A group of 15 coworkers shared the largest Irish Lotto jackpot!
Now that you know the winning numbers behind some of the world’s largest jackpots, it’s time to come up with a winning combination of your own!
