Top 10 Highest Mega Millions Jackpots Ever

Everyone knows that the biggest lottery jackpots in the world are awarded by American lotteries, but not everyone knows that many of the biggest American jackpots have been won playing Mega Millions. Here is our list of the highest Mega Millions jackpots ever. Maybe one day your name will show up here too!

The all-time highest Mega Millions winners list

10. Laarni Bibal - 7 June 2019 - $522 Million

Jackpot winner Laarni Bibal "took some time before claiming her ticket," California Lottery officials said as she accepted her massive prizes three months after the draw. During that time, Bibal kept the winning ticket "in a secret hiding place." When asked where that was, she said, "I can't tell you. The secret hiding place is still a secret!"

Bibal chose the Mega Millions cash option and received $340 million (before federal taxes). According to lottery officials, Bibal planned to use the money to pay bills and buy a home.

9. Richard Wahl - 30 March 2018 - $533 Million

Richard Wahl, a 47-year-old production manager at a food services company from Vernon, New Jersey, won the jackpot on his second ever try. "I drive past that (Mega Millions) sign every day and don't buy," he told reporters at the press conference where he picked up the jackpot cheque.

Wahl had purchased his first ticket the previous month after chatting with a co-worker about retirement, but he didn't win anything. A week later, he stopped at a gas station and bought more tickets, including the winning one. He opted for the one-time cash option which entitled him to an after-tax prize of about $175 million. Apparently he had a real understanding of the Mega Millions game!

8. Warren D, LLC - 8 July 2016 - $536 Million

"We are humbled and overjoyed by our Mega Millions winnings," said the anonymous family that won the huge jackpot in a statement. A representative for the winners said, "They're going to continue to work. They don't want this to change their lives." The family was born and raised in Indiana and they bought the winning ticket while going out of state on a trip. They had purchased Powerball tickets before, but this was the first time they played Mega Millions. According to them, "Our priority is to maintain a sense of normalcy for our children."

7. 11 California Co-workers – 24 July 2018 - $543 Million

Eleven co-workers at a San Jose financial institution played the lottery together on a whim after learning how high the jackpot had grown. "If I could win, anybody could win. We're just normal people!" said Roland Reyes, who claimed the prize on behalf of his group.

The players, ranging in age from 21 to 60, pitched in $2 each to purchase tickets together. Reyes said that the co-workers plan to keep on working. "We love that company. We love what we've built there. We have a good time and want to stay together." The winners chose to take the lump sum of $320.5 million, which for each member amounted to $29,140,281 before federal taxes.

6. Ira Curry and Steve Tran - 17 December 2013 - $648 Million

This huge jackpot was made possible largely due to major format changes made by Mega Millions in October 2013. When the new rules went into effect, they served to boost the lottery’s jackpot significantly. In this case, after a series of 21 rollovers, Mega Millions ticket sales went through the roof. It wasn’t even clear how high the jackpot would be in the final draw but the prize ended up being $648,000,000!

Two winners each earned a $324,000,000 share of the pot, worth $173,819,742.50 before taxes. The winning tickets were bought in San Jose, California, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. The first winner to come forward to claim the prize was 56-year-old Ira Curry, who chose the numbers based on family birthdays and the family's lucky number seven, which was selected as the Mega Ball.

The California winning ticket was bought at Jennifer's Gift Shop in San Jose by Steve Tran, who almost lost his ticket. Tran hadn't even realized he'd won, since the winning ticket was in a pile of other old tickets that he'd neglected to cheque!

5. Merle & Patricia Butler, The Three Amigos, and Anonymous - 30 March 2012 - $656 Million

Mega Millions had a particularly exciting drawing on 30 March 2012. As the jackpot rose to epic proportions, players and fans began to wonder whether the prize pool would ever be won! The final jackpot was $656 million - a time a world record for the biggest lottery jackpot ever, and record which stood for four years!

On the Friday after the win, the first of three winners claimed their $218.6 million share of the prize. Kansas law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous, which was what this wise lottery winner chose to do.

The Maryland winners of the amazing prize were three public school system employees who dubbed themselves "The Three Amigos." These American lottery winners -- a woman in her twenties, another in her fifties, and a man in his forties -- purchased a total of sixty tickets around the state, a $20 per person investment that ended up giving them each a huge return on their money! After splitting a massive $218.6 million, it's safe to say that these amigos are probably each other's richest friends!

The last winning ticket of this enormous jackpot belonged to Merle and Patricia Butler. The couple stayed up all night watching the news and surfing the internet to find out how many people had won the jackpot.

When word that the winning ticket had been purchased in their native town of Red Bud, Illinois, friends jokingly asked Merle if he was the winner. Little did they know that he actually was! The retired couple came forward on 18 April 2012 to claim their prize's cash option payout of $111 million after taxes.

4. Wolverine FFL Club - 22 January 2021 - $1.05 Billion

After a record 37 rollovers, the Mega Millions jackpot reached a staggering $1.05 billion when the draw's winning numbers were matched by a lucky ticket purchased in Novi, Michigan on 22 January 2021.

The jackpot was won by a 4-member syndicate called the "Wolverine FF Club" who came forward to claim their winnings on 12 March 2021. "This kind of money will impact the families of our club members for generations to come. We plan to stay humble and pay it forward through charitable giving in southeast Michigan," read a statement on behalf of the anonymous group. Wolverine FFL Club chose to split the one-time lump sum amount of $766 million.

3. Anonymous - 29 July 2022 - $1.337 Billion

In the spring of 2022, Mega Millions spread lottery mania throughout the whole world as no one could stop talking about its incredible, record-breaking top prize. Months of rollovers culminated in one of the most dramatic draws in lottery history on 29 July 2022, when the seemingly unwinnable jackpot was finally captured by a single winning ticket.

Two lucky winners from Illinois, USA had all five winning numbers – 13, 36, 45, 57, 67 – and the Mega Ball, 14. Higher than expected sales kept pushing the final prize higher and higher, right up to a $1.337 billion total, (worth $780.5 million as a lump sum), that was tantalisingly close to breaking the all-time record.

2. LaKoma Island Investments, LLC - 13 January 2023 - $1.348 Billion

If you’re the superstitious type, you probably weren’t looking forward to Friday the 13th in January 2023 – but the day turned out to be as lucky as it gets for one Mega Millions player.

Matching all five regular numbers, 30, 43, 45, 46, and 61, as well as the Mega Ball 14, a single ticket purchased in the state of Maine was awarded the entire $1.348 billion ($723.5 million cash) jackpot – making it the very first Mega Millions jackpot won in the entire state. Although the winner remains anonymous, they have chosen to collect the cash option through a limited liability company, and "The winner is thoughtfully considering the best uses of the life-changing prize," a representative for the winner said in a statement.

As it stands, this jackpot is not only the second-biggest for Mega Millions - it’s also the fourth-largest of all time!

What was the biggest Mega Millions jackpot ever?

1. Anonymous - 23 October 2018 - $1.537 Billion

A single ticket sold in South Carolina was the only winner of a $1.537 billion ($878 million cash) Mega Millions jackpot in the lottery’s draw on 23 October 2018.

The draw had been advertised with a $1.6 billion jackpot and it looked like Mega Millions was set to replace Powerball with a new world's record for largest jackpot ever. But after the draw results were announced and it became known that there was a single winner in South Carolina, the final prize amount was slightly reduced because ticket sales had been lower than expected.

The winning numbers in the draw were the white balls 5, 28, 62, 65 and 70, plus the gold Mega Ball 5. The historic Mega Millions jackpot smashed the lottery's former record of $656 million, set in March 2012. In addition to the jackpot winner, the sales frenzy produced an incredible 36 second prize tickets.

When will Mega Millions highest jackpot record be broken?

There's no telling when the next Mega Millions highest jackpot record will be, but with so many Mega Millions fans competing against such low odds we're pretty confident the next epic prize is well on its way.

Will you secure your place in the history of the Mega Millions lottery by winning one of the biggest American lottery jackpots ever? There is only one way to find a place on the Mega Millions winners list! Get into the action and purchase your lottery tickets online today!