Top Powerball Winners – Winner Stories

On top of our list of the greatest Powerball winners, we have this amazing record jackpot of $204 Crore. This is the biggest lottery jackpot ever offered in the world, to date!

It was scooped on November 7, 2022 by Edwin Castro.

During the press conference that went on right after the claiming process on February 14, 2023, Edwin Castro issued a statement in which shared being “shocked and ecstatic” about his win but also thankful for the fact that his win helps California education.

John and Lisa Robinson were the first to come forward to claim their winnings. They even appeared on TV (on the Today Show) before starting the claiming process.

This lovely couple from New Jersey seemed very down to Earth declaring that they chose the lump sum payment because they “don’t know what tomorrow is made of”.

They also explained that they would like to keep their apartment at first because “a big house is fine, but it does require a lot of cleaning“. However, after only 6 months, they apparently changed their mind as we found out that they purchased a 10 room villa with a private lake.

Maureen Smith and David Kaltschmidt, from Florida. were the next ones to come forward. It took them more time for 2 reasons:

• they didn’t know whether they wanted to remain anonymous or not. After thinking hard about it they decided that they didn’t want to live a lie and, therefore, chose to go public.
• they created a Trust to collect their winnings the “Nickel95 Trust”.

Maureen Smith was 70 years old when she scooped this Powerball prize, which made her one of the oldest Powerball winners. However, most people at the press conference will remember her for her gorgeous smile, positive attitude and kindness.

$108 Crore went to a single ticket from Los Angeles, California on July 19, 2023. The winning ticket which was purchased at the Las Palmitas Mini Market in downtown Los Angeles was the only one to feature all winning numbers (07-10-11-13-24/24).

This propelled the lucky winner, Yanira Alvarez, in our top of the biggest Powerball winners.

The jackpot actually had been swelling since April 19 and saw 38 unlucky draws before finally being scooped by this Californian player.

Mrs Alvarez chose the lump sum payment of $55.81 Crore (before taxes), and has declined making any comments about her win.

Manuel Franco from Wisconsin may be on the fourth spot in our top of the biggest Powerball winners, but we wonder if he isn’t one of the luckiest as he was the only winner of the $76,84,00,000 jackpot on March 27, 2019. He didn’t have to share his prize with anyone else! This made him the biggest individual Powerball winner of all time until November 7, 2022.

He is also one of the youngest Powerball winners as he was only 24 when he scooped this prize.

Eventhough he quit his job only 2 days after winning, Manuel declared he wants to be smart about it and want to make sure he will be set for life. He was also planning to help his family.

The draw on August 23, 2017 was a historical draw. Players from all around the world bought Powerball tickets and tried their luck. Overall, 93 Lakh people scooped a prize that day.

Mavis Wanczyk, from Massachussets was the luckiest one though, as she was the sole winner of the $75,87,00,000 jackpot.

Mavis Wanczyk took home $33,63,50,655 after taxes.

She was 53 at the time, and had been a caring nurse for 32 years. She declared she needed this but never really thought it could happen to her. She decided to quit her job and take a break by going on holidays for a bit. She says it best: “I will sit back and relax”.

A new Powerball winner joined our top Powerball winners list on February 6, 2023 when she scooped $75,46,00,000!

This was the first Powerball jackpot to be won in 2023 as it had been rolling over since November 2022! It took 34 rollovers to finally be won!

This Boeing employee for the past 36 years said she purchased one more ticket than usual because she found amusing the coincidence when she saw the estimated jackpot had reached (at the time) $747 Million while the last Boeing 747 had just been delivered a few days before.

The $73,11,00,000 win of January 23rd, 2021 also made history for a few reasons:

• It was the 1st time in history that US Powerball and Mega Millions both offered jackpots exceeding USD 70 Crore, in the same time.
• It was the largest jackpot ever scooped in Maryland.
• It is, to date, the biggest Powerball syndicate win!

This was a syndicate of people from a coal-mining town in West Maryland. Eventhough they chose to remain anonymous, they still let us know that they didn’t plan to change their lifestyle and that they hoped to positively affect their communities “for generations to come.” Way to go for these Powerball syndicate winners!

The sole Powerball winner of this $69 Crore jackpot is Scott Godfrey, from Sacramento, California. Scott described himself and his family as private people.

However, he mentionned: “It feels great to win big, of course, but I’m especially happy that this jackpot means $7.8 Crore was raised for California public education […] Even the times I’ve played in the past and didn’t win, I always felt, well, at least a few bucks of this will be going to help schools.”

To which Alva V. Johnson, director of the California Lottery added: “The California Lottery’s sole mission is to raise additional funds for California’s public education programs…it’s especially nice when they [the winners] recognize the importance of what we do. I’m proud that the Lottery has given schools over $39 Hundred Crore since we launched the very first games in 1985 in California”

Lerynne West was the first to come forward eventhough she almost lost her winning ticket.

She purchased her ticket at Casey’s General Store before going out with her sister to celebrate the fact that Lerynne had just bought her very first house.

Sadly, her ticket fell from her pocket in her sister’s car unbeknownst to her. Luckily, the day after the draw, a friend asked her how she did in the lottery. She looked for the ticket to no avail and then asked her sister to check in the car.

She must have been on a lucky streak. Her sister found the lost ticket and they discovered she had just become the latest Powerball winner.

Robert Bailey, a 67-year-old former federal employee, who had been playing the lotto for 25 years won the second half of this prize.

Not only had he been playing for 25 years, he always played the same numbers! Just as the story above, this might just have been faith:

Robert was always getting his entries at the same 4 shops. However, on that day it was pouring with rain and he took shelter in a different shop where he purchased his winning entry.

Mr Bailey said that he wants to buy a new house for his mother and make smart investments that will keep his family safe for many years to come.

Gloria MacKenzie made the headlines when she scooped $59 Crore on May 18, 2013. There are a few reasons for that:

• Gloria MacKenzie was, back then, the biggest individual Powerball winner (until Mavis Wanczyk took that position in 2017 – see above).
• She was the oldest Powerball winner as she scooped her prize at 84 years old.
• This dapper lady not only created the Mackenzie Foundation to provide scholarships for various educational projects but she also shared half of her winnings with her son as they had made a pact: Scott MacKenzie and her would both share any lottery wins they would get.