Ever wanted to know who the luckiest lottery winners of all time are? Lotteries across the world have paid out billions in winnings to those who managed to match the correct numbers of their chosen lottery.
The ten biggest wins are below.
$564 million in February 2015 Powerball
A single mother from North Carolina won this immense jackpot, along with an anonymous winner in Puerto Rico. A third winning ticket emerged but since nobody claimed it, the portion of these winnings were donated to a charity in Texas.
$380 million in January 2011 Mega Millions
The McCullar's won this large fortune and decided not to spend it frivolously. Instead, they wisely invested their cash, donated to charity and gave some of their money to their six children.
$336.4 million in February 2012 Powerball
According to the winner, Louise White, she kept her winning ticket with at all times, and even slept with it as it lay inside her bible at night. After winning, she formed the Rainbow Sherbet Trust to safeguard her money, named after the dessert she purchased while buying her Powerball ticket.
$656 million in March 2012 Mega Millions
This was the US record for the all time biggest cash payment and was awarded to three winners in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland.
£101 million in October 2011 EuroMillions
Dave Dawes was formally a low-level supervisor before winning this unreal amount of cash. Dave said that he could not believe his luck, and slept with the winning ticket the night before cashing it in.
$590.5 million in May 2013 Powerball
Ticket holder 84-year-old Gloria Mackenzie won this draw purely by luck: Mackenzie was standing in line for the ticket and was allowed to purchase the winning PowerBall lottery ticket before the gentleman in front of her. Imagine that, good manners sometimes don't work out for the best.
€400,000 each in December 2014 El Gordo
The Spanish El Gordo pays out billions in winnings, with entire towns often betting on the same set of tickets to secure a win. And so, for every citizen in sunny Lanzarote (over 140 000) in the Canary Islands, they were each treated to a cash prize of €400,000 after their town won the ticket draw for the Spanish "El Gordo" or "The Big One". They shared a pot of €2.5billion that also paid out to winners from Madrid.
$380 million in January 2011 Mega Millions
While this now retired banking clerk decided to shy away from the public spotlight, it was for good reason. She was never legally divorced from her estranged husband who wanted to claim his half of the lottery winnings. She hid to ensure that this never happened (yet he still managed to claim some money from this sneaky person).
$590 million in May 2013 Powerball
An anonymous winner from Florida became the single richest winner of the lottery after their ticket matched all six numbers plus the Powerball.
£161 million in July 2011 EuroMillions
The Weirs, hailing from Ayrshire in the UK, nabbed the highest ever EuroMillions win. Along with buying their dream mansion out in the countryside, the Weirs donated sizable amounts of their money to charity.
