$1 billion Powerball, Mega Millions: Look back at winners, luck or coincidence
When jackpots get to $1 billion, it’s a lottery frenzy. Edwin Castro, Florida, Publix, California and Christmas have strong Mega Millions and Powerball tie.
Will a $2 or $5 ticket make you a billionaire?
As they say in the lottery business, “it could happen to you.”
A lot of eyes are on the Powerball and Mega Millions lottery drawings as they rise up toward hopefully another $1 billion jackpot.
Mega Millions for Friday, July 24, 2026, sits at a whopping $743 million while Powerball jackpot for Saturday, July 25, 2026, climbed to $600 million.
As of Friday, July 24, 2026, there have been 15 times a Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot reached the coveted near-billion-dollar prize. A snapshot:
- 14 Powerball or Mega Millions lottery jackpots reached and surpassed $1 billion.
- Only once has a jackpot reached or surpassed $2 billion ā November 2022 for Powerball winner Edwin Castro of Altadena, California.
- A ticket from a Publix in Newnan, Georgia, won $983 million in the Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, Mega Millions. Had there been one more rollover, the total wouldāve surpassed $1 billion.
Speaking of Publix, the Lakeland, Florida-based grocery store chain has ties to two other billion-dollar lottery jackpots, for almost the same amount, in the same state.
And we can’t forget that one time two back-to-back billion-dollar Powerball lottery jackpots were claimed by a winner ā in the same state (we’re looking at you, California!).
Below are fun facts about Powerball and Mega Millions, some winners and those billion-dollar lottery drawings.
From July 2022 to August 2023, there were 5 lottery jackpots that reached $1 billion and one that surpassed $2 billion
When the lottery jackpots grow, it’s fun for players. But when they grow to $1 billion? That’s a recipe for a lottery frenzy. It happened four times in just over one year, from late July 2022 to early August 2023.
- The $1.337 billion Mega Millions prize for the July 29, 2022, drawing was won by an anonymous partnership with a ticket purchased in Des Plaines, Illinois.
- The $2.04 billion Powerball prize from the Nov. 7, 2022, drawing was claimed by Edwin Castro of Altadena, California.
- The $1.348 billion Mega Millions prize for the Jan. 13, 2023, drawing was claimed by LaKoma Island Investments LLC, with the ticket purchased in Lebanon, Maine.
- The $1.08 billion Powerball prize for the July 19, 2023, drawing was claimed by Yanira Alvarez of California.
- The $1.58 billion Mega Millions prize for the Aug. 8, 2023, drawing was claimed by Saltines Holdings LLC in Miami, Florida. That ticket was purchased from a Publix in Neptune Beach, Florida. Fun facts: Three tickets, including one from California and Tennessee, split the $1.586 billion Powerball jackpot from the Jan. 13, 2016, drawing, with the other ticket coming from a Publix in Melbourne Beach, Florida. (These are the billion-dollar Powerball and Mega Millions lottery jackpots that have that same amount, same state tie.)
That one time Powerball, Mega Millions had billion-dollar jackpots in the same month
Mega Millions and Powerball lottery games had billion-dollar jackpots in the same month ā who would’ve thought?
In 2023, after three months of rollovers ā from April to July ā Mega Millions hit the billion-dollar mark after no one matched all five numbers plus the Mega Ball in the Friday, July 28, 2023, drawing. Two hours after the winning numbers were picked, the $940 million jackpot soared to a whopping $1.05 billion.
This next paragraph may sound like deja vu: After three months of rollovers ā from April to July ā Powerball hit the billion-dollar mark July 18, 2023, when no one matched all five numbers plus the Powerball in the Monday, July 17, drawing. A single ticket purchased by Yanira Alvarez in California eventually won the Powerball on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, for $1.08 billion.
Coincidence? Two of the U.S. lottery’s biggest games reached $1 billion in jackpots in the same month in the same year stemming from rollovers that started in the same month in the same year.
If the current lottery streaks for Powerball and Mega Millions continue toward $1 billion, itās possible there could be twin billion-dollar jackpots in August 2026.
Those two times Powerball had back-to-back $1 billion lottery jackpots
According to a Powerball release online, the 2025 Christmas Eve (Dec. 24, 2025) jackpot marks the second-largest Powerball prize in history, and that lottery streak immediately followed the $1.787 billion Powerball prize won on Sept. 6, 2025, by a pair of tickets in St. Louis, Missouri, and Fredericksburg, Texas. “This marks only the second time in Powerball history that the game has generated back-to-back billion-dollar jackpots,” the site states.
āPowerball has only seen back-to-back to billion-dollar jackpots twice, and this one has arrived just in time for the holidays,ā Matt Strawn, Iowa Lottery CEO and Powerball Product Group Chair said on powerball.com.
“The only other time the Powerball game generated back-to-back billion-dollar jackpots was in 2023, when a $1.08 billion jackpot was won on July 19, followed by a $1.765 billion jackpot won on Oct. 11. Both jackpots were won by players in California.” (See paragraphs above and this next one below.)
That one time California won back-to-back $1 billion lottery jackpot wins
Oh, California! Florida has had some amazing Powerball and Mega Millions billion-dollar lottery wins, but the Golden State outshines the Sunshine State for $1 billion jackpot prizes. In fact, in one year, a back-to-back billion-dollar Powerball lottery drawing produced two winners from California (yay for California, a colossal begrudgingly good-sportsmanship groan by all other states).
- The $1.08 billion Powerball prize for the July 19, 2023, drawing was claimed by Yanira Alvarez of California.
- The $1.73 billion Powerball prize for the Oct. 11, 2023, drawing was claimed by Theodorus Struyck of California, who represented a group of winners. In California, winners must be identified.
A repeat! $1 billion lottery jackpot for Christmas and Hanukkah 2024 and Christmas and Hanukkah 2025
In 2024, one lucky lottery playerĀ had quite a holiday season: Just afterĀ Christmas and HanukkahĀ and ahead of New Year’s Eve, aĀ ticket in California correctly matched all fiveĀ numbers plus the Mega Ball to win the $1.22 billion Mega Millions drawing for Dec. 27, 2024. Months later, the winner was revealed on the luckiest holiday of all ā St. Patrick’s Day 2025. Rosemary Casarotti of California officially collected her prize, which had ballooned to $1.269 billion after final ticket sales. That lottery streak started Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 (a Friday the 13th, no less), at $20 million.
For the Dec. 24, 2025, Christmas Eve drawing, Powerball and Arkansas Scholarship Lottery announced the $1.817 billion Powerball ticket was purchased from the Murphy USA gas station at the Walmart Supercenter in Cabot, Arkansas. That lottery streak started Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, at $20 million ā very similar to the Mega Millions-2024 holiday lottery craze.
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her onĀ TwitterĀ or Instagram atĀ @byjensangalang. Support local journalism.Ā Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
This content is sourced from www.tcpalm.com and is shared for informational purposes only.
