Most people dream of getting rich. They want to get a large fortune just like that, without spending much effort. And for some people, these dreams come true - they win big prizes in the lottery. There are few such people, but their winnings are often amazing. Now you can try your luck in international and foreign lotteries by purchasing a lotto ticket online. The largest the lottery can have a “crazy” prize pool, and the amounts won amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. We invite you to familiarize yourself with our rating top 5 "biggest lotteries in the world."
5th place - Transnational lottery "Eurojackpot" - Total prize fund - 90 million €, largest win - 90 million €
Eurojackpot is the most dynamically developing and young game in Europe. The lottery was founded in 2012, it instantly became transnational, where the main players were players from Europe.
Over a dozen EU countries participate in the Eurojackpot lottery, including
- Denmark,
- Finland,
- Estonia,
- Hungary,
- Germany,
- Italy,
- Iceland
- Lithuania,
- Latvia,
- Spain,
- Sweden,
- Slovenia,
- Norway,
- Netherlands,
- Croatia
- and the Czech Republic.
There are a total of twelve prize levels in the lottery.
The minimum jackpot is €10 million, and its maximum growth can reach up to €90 million.
Compared to other games, EuroJackpot is designed in such a way that the main prize finds its winner much more often. As a result, the lottery jackpot does not accumulate to the same level as EuroMillions, because it is won more often. The largest Eurojackpot jackpot was won on May 15, 2015, with the winner from the Czech Republic receiving €90 million. In September 2014, the winner from Finland managed to win €61,170,752.
4th place - Lottery in Italy "SuperEnaloto" - Total prize fund - 177.8 million €, largest win - 177.8 million €
SuperEnaloto is the main one national lottery Italy. The game has been around since December 1997. Draws are held on Saturdays, Thursdays and Tuesdays at 20:00, and the jackpots of this lottery are among the largest in the world. SuperEnalotto also holds the record for the longest period of growth in the prize pool, it lasted 8 months.
The SuperEnalotto prize pool can easily increase to infinity
during an unlimited number of draws, allowing it to accumulate huge sums and players to win millions of euros. The game is also very attractive for players, because winnings are not taxed, and winners have the right to claim their winnings in annual payments or in a lump sum.
At one of the Venice festivals, Madonna and George Clooney purchased SuperEnaloto tickets, the former even won 120 thousand €. A biggest jackpot Lotteries in October 2010 reached 177.8 million €, which equals 247 million dollars. It became the second largest jackpot in Europe.
3rd place - Transnational lottery "EuroMillions" - Total prize fund - 190 million €, largest win - 190 million €
The EuroMillions game was launched in 2004. She quickly gained popularity. Today it is biggest game in Europe. The large jackpot prize fund, which is growing due to the transfer of the prize fund, as well as the simplicity of the game, have made it possible to expand the number of participating countries to nine from 3 in 2004. EuroMillions was originally held in Spain, the UK and France, and has now been joined by Austria, Ireland, Andorra, Belgium, Monaco, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Portugal.
Winning EuroMillions could buy you everything - a piece of diamond-studded jewelry.
The minimum lottery jackpot is €15 million, but quite often it increases to over €100 million. EuroMillions has 13 prize categories, which allows players to count on a higher probability of receiving a prize. The largest prize won on this moment is a jackpot of 190 million €. It has been won twice: in 2014 in Portugal and in 2012 in the UK. Colin and Chris Weir won €185 million in the UK in 2011.
2nd place - Lottery in the USA "Powerball" - Total prize fund - $600 million, largest win - $600 million
The American game Powerball is the strongest and main competitor to Mega Millions. The Powerball game was founded in 1988 and today it is the most important player of this market. The initial Powerball jackpot is $40 million. It has one of the largest jackpots in the world.
This amount has reached more than $500 million several times.
The lottery has a “Power play” function for an additional fee, which allows you to increase your winnings several times if you win. Tickets can be purchased in 45 US states, while Powerball can be played by players from all over the world through a special service. Powerball drawing, as well as the presentation of prizes to lottery participants in nine prize categories, is carried out in Florida every Saturday and Wednesday at 23:00.
In May 2013, the Powerball game held a $600 million draw, which became the second-largest jackpot on record. Its sole owner was an 84-year-old retiree living in Florida.
1st place - US Lottery "Mega Millions" - Total prize fund - $1.5 billion, largest winnings - $656 million
Mega Millions is one of largest lotteries in the USA, it was founded in 1996. Today, the number of departments and states in which tickets are distributed is 45, giving Mega Millions almost universal coverage in the United States. The initial jackpots for this lottery are $15 million.
They even reached one and a half billion dollars several times.
The final win in this game, thanks to the presence of an additional win multiplier called Megaplier, can be increased up to five times.
Mega Millions players are offered to win in nine different categories, with drawings taking place every week on Fridays and Tuesdays at 11:00 p.m. This game has gone down in history forever, changing the idea of jackpots, because in March 2012 the amount of the main winnings reached $656 million. This jackpot became the largest in the history of lotteries!
Video: How winning the lottery can change your life
TASS DOSSIER. November 5, 2017 official website of the Russian distribution company state lotteries"Stoloto" reported that a resident Voronezh region won the 1204th lottery draw" Russian lotto"506 million rubles. This is the largest jackpot in the history of lotteries in the Russian Federation. The lottery organizer is the Ministry of Sports of the Russian Federation, the operator is State Sports Lotteries JSC.
The previous Russian record was set on May 21, 2017. Then the organizers of the Stoloto lottery reported that the prize was 364 million 685 thousand 787 rubles. went to a resident of Sochi (Krasnodar region). According to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, the winner had to pay 13% of this amount to the treasury. Thus, the winner of the winnings received 317 million 277 thousand rubles. The lucky ticket was purchased for 700 rubles. The prize was drawn in the Gosloto 6 out of 45 lottery, which is also organized by the Russian Ministry of Sports.
In third place is the winning of a doctor from Novosibirsk. On February 29, 2016, he won 358 million 358 thousand rubles in Gosloto 6 out of 45. (after taxes - 311.7 million rubles). According to the winner, he regularly participated in this lottery for two years. The lucky bet cost him 1 thousand 800 rubles.
Fourth place goes to another resident of Novosibirsk. On May 30, 2017, he won a super prize of 300 million rubles in Gosloto 4 out of 20. (after taxes - 261 million rubles), played for the first time in the history of this lottery. He purchased his ticket on the lottery website for only 100 rubles.
In fifth place is the resident's winnings Nizhny Novgorod, which in August 2014 took the jackpot in the amount of 202 million 441 thousand rubles. in "Gosloto 6 out of 45". After deducting taxes, he should have had 175.7 million rubles left in his hands.
The biggest jackpot in the world
On January 13, 2016, the organizers of the popular US lottery Powerball announced that three winning tickets for a jackpot of $1 billion 586.4 million. This is the largest jackpot in the world in the history of lotteries, but not the largest single winnings taking into account taxes. The winners were two married couples from Munford, Tennessee, and Chino Hills, California, as well as a retiree from Melbourne Beach, Florida.
According to Powerball rules, the winner can receive the jackpot in installments over 29 years or become its owner immediately. IN the latter case the amount of winnings becomes approximately half as much, without taking into account taxes, which vary from state to state. Thus, if all three winners decided to take the winnings in their hands at once, each of them would receive $327.4 million, and taking into account taxes, only about 40-50% of this amount.
Before the Powerball draw in January 2016, the largest jackpot was won in the Spanish Christmas Lottery (Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad) - it amounted to €720 million with a total prize fund more than €2.5 billion. However, then the jackpot was divided among 180 winners.
Largest single lottery win
However, the January 2016 record is not absolute in terms of the amount of winnings for an individual winner. The largest winnings on a single ticket in US history was $758.8 million. This amount was won in the Powerball lottery on August 23, 2017 by 53-year-old Mavis Wonchik from Chicopee (Massachusetts).
In May 2013, a resident of Zephyrhills (Florida, USA) became the only winner of the $590.5 million Powerball lottery jackpot. She chose a lump sum prize, receiving $370.9 million before taxes.
Including taxes, the biggest single win (£148.7 million or €190 million) was won in the EuroMillions lottery in August 2012 by Adrian and Gillian Bayford from Haverhill in Suffolk, UK. A resident of the Portuguese city of Castelo Branco won the same amount in euros in October 2014, but in accordance with the law adopted in 2013, he had to pay 20% of taxes on this amount, i.e. he received only €152 million.
Who hasn't thought of buying one at least once? lottery ticket and try your luck, especially in the context of the ongoing financial crisis? A couple of extra millions could easily solve money problems and be a ticket to happy life for anyone ordinary person. But Fortune is an unpredictable and capricious goddess. Not everyone is lucky: someone buys tickets often, but never wins. And some people get millions on the first try. Who are the lucky ones who are lucky enough to win the biggest sums?
Jack Whittaker
This man is the owner of the largest US lottery winnings in history - a whopping $315 million. Moreover, Whittaker was far from the poorest man - at the time of such a joyful event, he served as president of one of the large construction corporations. However, the day he bought the ticket did not make Whittaker any happier. Jack decided to take the winnings not in parts, but all at once. After deducting taxes, he was left with an amount almost three times less than the initial winnings - only 113.4 million dollars.
As befits a good Christian, Whittaker donated ten percent of this amount to a charitable foundation. religious organizations. He also gave the lucky ticket seller a car and a house.
But that's it white stripe in Whittaker's life came to an end. Jack has been arrested several times for driving while intoxicated. In the summer of 2003, thieves broke into his car and stole almost half a million dollars. In January 2004, he was robbed again for $200,000. And in the same year, Whittaker was arrested - the reason was threats to kill the manager in a bar where he was a regular and a drinker.
And the last straw was another robbery - now Whittaker's bank accounts were already damaged. In September 2006, robbers used forged checks to clean out all of the former lucky guy's bank accounts. This was the sad end to the biggest lottery win ever.
Brad Duke is a smart winner
But there is an opposite story - and this is a win for Brad Duke, who worked as a manager at Ohio State. He approached the money received much more rationally. The amount of $85 million, which was one of the largest winnings in the lottery, was divided into several parts. Duke invested 45 million in securities of those companies where the risk of loss was minimal and the profit was highest. I decided to invest another 35 million in companies with high risks, however big income- oil and gas corporations. With the 5 million that were left, Duke went with friends to Hawaii, paid for his studies and a loan for housing.
Win by Juan Rodriguez
Another of the biggest lottery wins went to a Colombian named Juan Rodriguez. The amount was no less than $149 million.
Rodriguez worked as a watchman, and the constant lack of money was the reason for incessant scandals with his wife. At the time when poor Juan had only one dollar left in his pocket, the amount of his debts was already about 44 thousand dollars. It was then that he decided to try his luck and buy a lottery ticket. However, this story was overshadowed only by the fact that ten days after winning, Juan’s wife filed for divorce. In a court ex-wife said he “could have won more.”
Generous Vietnamese
The largest lottery win in the world, which went to the oldest winner, was $310,000. This amount went to a 97-year-old man from Vietnam named Nguyen Van Het. He spent almost his entire adult life in poverty. No one expected the old peasant to decide to play the lottery.
He purchased a lucky lottery ticket with money given to him by his relatives. Immediately after news of the win became known, neighbors began to gather around his house. The old man was so happy that he started giving money to everyone. To prevent him from being completely left without money, the authorities had to intervene.
Retired from South Carolina
Another of the biggest lottery wins of all time went to South Carolina resident Solomon Jackson. He won $260 million in a lottery called Powerball. The pensioner decided not to publicize his plans for the future. All that is known about the winner is that he worked as an employee all his life and retired in 2000. The amount that Jackson won was the largest lottery win in the history of Powerball. The pensioner purchased his lucky ticket for just $2 at a gas station.
The Story of Ralph and Mary Stabbnis
This story is one of the grim examples where monetary luck is followed by a streak of serious misfortune. The couple became the winners of the American lottery called Mega Millions in 2005. It was one of the company's largest lottery winnings ever, at $208 million. The couple chose to first take the smaller part, which was allowed by the lottery rules - 125 million. The remaining amount was to be paid to them over several decades. The Stabbnises planned to pay off their debts, buy a farm, invest the money they won in maintaining and breeding cows, and live the lifestyle of ordinary provincials for the rest of their days.
Mary and Ralph lived together for 23 years and had three children. Both of them immediately left their previous jobs after winning - Ralph was an ordinary worker in a mining company, and Mary received about $7 an hour working as a saleswoman. However, the win did not make the couple happy. In the fall of 2006, Ralph Stabbnis was accused of attempting to kill his daughter's friend, as well as possessing a weapon. Less than two months later he died of a heart attack.
Lucky combination
Another Mega Millions jackpot was not so unfortunate. It was divided between two winners - a resident of Washington named Jim McCular and a resident of the state of Ihado who wished to remain anonymous. $380 million was the largest lottery win in the world in 2011. What numbers did these lucky ones get? It was a sequence of numbers 4, 8, 15, 25, 47 and 42. Residents of the United States noticed that this series was repeated several times in episodes of the TV series Lost. According to the plot, they also brought the hero of the series named Hurley luck in the lottery.
The story of a poor waitress
However, more often than not, a lottery win brings misfortune to its owner. This was the case with a Las Vegas waitress named Cynthia Jay. She decided to go to the casino after work. She didn’t intend to leave a lot of money in the machines - she only had $27 in her hands. Cynthia decided to play a lottery called the One-Armed Bandit. Gradually she lost one dollar after another and was about to leave. Suddenly, a loud sound was heard throughout the casino, notifying all visitors that they had won the jackpot.
The amount that Cynthia managed to win was about $35 million. It would take her 1,165 years to earn this money as a waitress. However, the luck did not last long. Less than a few months after winning, Cynthia was involved in a serious car accident. The poor girl found herself in wheelchair. She later stated that she would give all the money just to go and work as a waitress again.
Lotteries in the USSR
IN Soviet time lotteries did not bring such misfortunes. Perhaps this was because they did not win astronomical sums - lotteries were created mainly to develop the economy. One of the most popular lotteries of the past was the Sprint lottery (USSR). The biggest win then was 10 thousand rubles. In the first four days after the launch of the lottery, 2 million tickets were sold. Their cost was 50 kopecks. or 1 ruble. It was also possible to win a Volga car, which was of much more interest to Soviet lottery fans.
Also during the Soviet era, sports lotteries were very popular - “Sportloto”, “Sportprognoz”. It is believed that these drawings were the first type of bookmaking in the vastness of the USSR. The prizes that buyers of lottery tickets received were often scarce goods - televisions, refrigerators, washing and sewing machines.
A resident of Novosibirsk won 300 million rubles in the lottery. This was reported on the website of the distributor of state lotteries in Russia, Stoloto. Such a large prize was won for the first time at Gosloto “4 out of 20”. The winner purchased his ticket on the website for 100 rubles. After receiving the winnings, the winner is required to pay taxes in the amount of 13 percent of the winnings and as a result will receive 261 million rubles.
AiF.ru talks about others big wins to the lottery in Russia.
2017 - 364 million rubles.
This win was recognized as a record for Russia. The ticket cost the owner 700 rubles. The winner has not yet claimed his rightful winnings.
2016 - 358 million rubles.
In March 2016, a resident of Novosibirsk won 358 million rubles in the Gosloto 6 out of 45 lottery. The winner took part in three draws. His lucky bet, which he made at one of the city's lottery kiosks, cost 1,800 rubles. The 47-year-old doctor only applied for his winnings a few weeks later. He came to collect his winnings with his best friend. After receiving the prize, the winner stated that he would move to Moscow and buy big house and will engage in development own business, and will also help those who need financial support.
2015 - 126 million rubles.
On May 29, 2015, a resident of the Kaliningrad region won a super prize equal to 126,925,038 rubles. The 37-year-old engineer said he would use the money to build a house and a playground. According to him, he has been interested in lotteries since childhood. Together with his grandfather, he bought tickets and dreamed of becoming famous throughout the country as a lottery winner.
In the same year, during the drawing, more than 200 million rubles were divided between residents of the Murmansk region and the Stavropol Territory, who guessed 6 numbers out of 45. A resident of the Murmansk region won 102,293,526 rubles, while his bet was 2.8 thousand rubles. A lottery participant from the Stavropol Territory won 101,587,947 rubles, his bet was 1.8 thousand rubles.
2014 - 202 million rubles.
On August 9, 2014, a resident of Nizhny Novgorod won 202,441,116 rubles. The winner came to claim his winnings only a month later. He refused to comment on his incredible luck in the form of the largest win in the country, citing a state of shock.
At the beginning of 2014, during the super prize drawing, a resident of Omsk received 184,513,482 rubles. Mine happy ticket he bought it at one of the retail outlets sales and placed a multi-circulation bid worth 810 rubles. He planned to use the prize to buy a large house near the water in a country with a warm climate.
2013 - 121 million rubles.
On June 1, 2013, in the 585th draw, the super prize equal to 121,835,582 rubles was shared by two participants: a resident of Perm, Valery (60,917,821 rubles), and a resident of Volgograd, Olga (61,518,163 rubles). Valery purchased his ticket during a business trip to Sochi. He planned to spend the amount of money he won on his children’s long-standing desire: a big house. Olga also wanted to buy her own home on the Mediterranean Sea.
2012 - 152 million rubles.
On September 18, 2012, in the 477th draw, the super prize equal to 152,723,884 rubles was divided among four participants. They all made an expanded bet: they marked more than 6 numbers on the playing field.
2011 - 135 million rubles.
On December 31, 2011, a super prize equal to 135,198,272 rubles was shared between a pensioner from Pyatigorsk and an entrepreneur from Moscow.
2009 - 100 million rubles.
On March 19, 2009, an entrepreneur from St. Petersburg won 100,118,974 rubles in the lottery. No one could overcome his record for more than five years. The winner of the winnings stated that he was going to spend the money on buying a home, a summer house and a car.
A resident of Novosibirsk won 300 million rubles in the lottery. This was reported on the website of the distributor of state lotteries in Russia, Stoloto. Such a large prize was won for the first time at Gosloto “4 out of 20”. The winner purchased his ticket on the website for 100 rubles. After receiving the winnings, the winner is required to pay taxes in the amount of 13 percent of the winnings and as a result will receive 261 million rubles.
AiF.ru talks about other big lottery wins in Russia.
2017 - 364 million rubles.
On May 21, a resident of Sochi won 364 million rubles in Gosloto “6 out of 45”. This win was recognized as a record for Russia. The ticket cost the owner 700 rubles. The winner has not yet claimed his rightful winnings.
2016 - 358 million rubles.
In March 2016, a resident of Novosibirsk won 358 million rubles in the Gosloto 6 out of 45 lottery. The winner took part in three draws. His lucky bet, which he made at one of the city's lottery kiosks, cost 1,800 rubles. The 47-year-old doctor only applied for his winnings a few weeks later. He came to collect his winnings with his best friend. After receiving the prize, the winner of the super prize said that he would move to Moscow, buy a big house and develop his own business, and also help those who need financial support.
2015 - 126 million rubles.
On May 29, 2015, a resident of the Kaliningrad region won a super prize equal to 126,925,038 rubles. The 37-year-old engineer said he would use the money to build a house and a playground. According to him, he has been interested in lotteries since childhood. Together with his grandfather, he bought tickets and dreamed of becoming famous throughout the country as a lottery winner.
In the same year, during the drawing, more than 200 million rubles were divided between residents of the Murmansk region and the Stavropol Territory, who guessed six numbers out of 45. A resident of the Murmansk region won 102,293,526 rubles, while his bet was 2.8 thousand rubles. A lottery participant from the Stavropol Territory won 101,587,947 rubles, his bet was 1.8 thousand rubles.
2014 - 202 million rubles.
On August 9, 2014, a resident of Nizhny Novgorod won 202,441,116 rubles. The winner came to claim his winnings only a month later. He refused to comment on his incredible luck in the form of the largest win in the country, citing a state of shock.
At the beginning of 2014, during the super prize drawing, a resident of Omsk received 184,513,482 rubles. He bought his lucky ticket at one of the retail outlets and placed a multi-circulation bet worth 810 rubles. He planned to use the prize to buy a large house near the water in a country with a warm climate.
2013 - 121 million rubles.
On June 1, 2013, in the 585th draw, the super prize equal to 121,835,582 rubles was shared by two participants - Perm resident Valery (60,917,821 rubles) and Volgograd resident Olga (61,518,163 rubles). Valery purchased his ticket during a business trip to Sochi. He planned to spend the amount of money he won on his children’s long-standing desire - a big house, like the second winner. Olga also wanted to buy her own home on the Mediterranean Sea.
2012 - 152 million rubles.
On September 18, 2012, in the 477th draw, the super prize equal to 152,723,884 rubles was divided among four participants. They all made a detailed bet - they marked more than 6 numbers on the playing field.