We may not be the luckiest state in the U.S. when it comes to big lottery wins, but Floridians have done pretty well.
Monday's $215 million Powerball win marks the 12th time someone in the Sunshine State has won a big Powerball jackpot and there have been five big winning Mega Millions tickets sold here, according to Florida Lottery data.
Floridians are used to big odds. Detractors will tell you the odds of winning the lottery are worse than the odds of getting hit by lighting, but you're talking to people who live in the lightning capital of the United States.
But odds aside — and the odds against winning are indeed astronomical, but we're good at space stuff, too — several Florida residents have won big in the Florida Lotto, Powerball and the Mega Millions games. Here are the top 10 Sunshine State winners so far, according to data from the Florida Lottery.
$1.58 billion, Mega Millions
The next one on the list had a bigger jackpot, but in this one all the money stayed in Florida so it gets No. 1.
Saltine Holdings LLC from Miami claimed the sole winning ticket in a Publix in Neptune Beach and won the largest Mega Millions jackpot in the game's history on Aug. 8, 2023, an estimated $1.58 billion.
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$1.59 billion, Powerball
Three winners in three states, Florida, California and Tennessee, claimed the biggest lottery jackpot at the time on January 13, 2016. (Edwin Castro of California blasted that record in 2023 when he won a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot.)
Maureen Smith, then 70, andthen-55-year-old David Kaltschmidt in Melbourne Beach claimed the prize as "The Nickel 5 Trust" and received a payout of nearly $328 million (all payout figures listed here are pre-tax). According to the Florida Lottery, this one drawing created 18 new Florida millionaires.
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$590.5 million, Powerball
On May 18, 2013, Gloria C. MacKenzie became the largest sole lottery winner in U.S. history at the time when the 84-year-old Zephryhills resident won big off a Powerball ticket she bought at the local Publix. Her cash payout was just under $371 million.
She later sued her son for mismanagement but died in February 2021 before the case was concluded.
$494 million, Mega Millions
Two winning tickets were sold for the $494 Mega Millions jackpot on Oct. 14, 2022, and one of them was sold in Fort Myers while it was still reeling from the devastating Hurricane Ian less than three weeks before. (The other was in California). The prize, $126 million and change, was claimed by Pamela Baker, 44, of Bonita Springs, managing member of Pineapple Trust.
$450 million, Mega Millions
On Jan. 5, 2018, the Florida Lottery's 30th birthday, Shane Missler, 20, of Port Richey became Florida's second Mega Millions winner and the 4th largest jackpot winner to date in Mega Millions history with a winning ticket for $451 million. He took home $281 million. "I'm only 20, but I hope to use it to pursue a variety of passions, help my family and do some good for humanity," Missler said in a Florida Lottery news release.
$414 million, Mega Millions
Two years after Robyn Collier of Merritt Island filed for bankruptcy and two months after her boyfriend, Raymond Moyer, was laid off from his job, they became the first Mega Millions winners in Florida and split a $414 million jackpot with another winner in Maryland in the Mar. 18, 2014, drawing. They netted $115 million, deposited in a trust named after their dogs, Cobie and Seamus.
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$394 million, Powerball
Sheryll Goedert, a partner in the Ocala law firm Collier, Jernigan & Goedert. P.A.turned in the ticket from a Bonita Springs 7-Eleven that won the $394 million Powerball Jan. 29, 2020. That worked out to just under $277 million in take-home pay.
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$292 million, Powerball
It's rare to come back from a vacation with more money than when you left. James Stocklas of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania bought a quick pick in Marathon while he was down in the Florida Keys and won the Mar. 2, 2016 Powerball jackpot of $292 million, which turned into $191 million in cash for the next vacation(s).
$286 million, Powerball
The Love You More Trust, represented by Clay Tousey, 69,of Ponte Vedra Beach, claimed a $286 million jackpot for the June 5, 2021 Powerball drawing. They also loved the cash option of just under $197 million.
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$238 million, Powerball
A Powerball ticket from a Publix in Lutz in the Tampa Bay area on Mar. 7, 2021, won the $238 million grand prize. Thomas Ye of Land O'Lakes claimed it, according to the Florida Lottery, and cashed out for $160 million.
What's the largest Florida Lotto jackpot?
Powerball and Mega Millions dominate this list since they're nationwide and have the largest sales, but we wouldn't turn our noses up at a paltry few million. Or even $106.5 million, the largest Florida Lotto jackpot since it began, split by six winners from the Sept. 15, 1991 drawing.
Who won the first Powerball jackpot in Florida?
W. Steemers Trust of Orlando claimed the winning ticket after becoming the first Florida player to win the Powerball on Oct. 3, 2009. for a $189 million jackpot.
What's the largest unclaimed Florida Lotto jackpot?
Someone bought a ticket in Miami in May of 1999 and won $66 million in the Florida Lotto but, for whatever reason, never claimed it before it expired after the 180-day deadline, which is why you should always check your pockets before laundry day.
Second-highest was the unclaimed winning $53.7 million ticket someone purchased in North Bay Village in Dade County in Mar. 2003.
A winning Mega Millions ticket for $36 million from the Aug. 15, 2023 drawing sold at a Publix in Jacksonville expired when it went unclaimed.
Currently, there's a $2 million winner from the April 24 drawing who bought their ticket at a Publix on Taylor Road in Port Orange who has until June 23 to claim it if they want the cash option.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida has seen record-breaking Powerball, Mega Millions jackpot wins
