When Powerball first reached $1 billion. Look back at the lottery frenzy

, Florida Today1 week ago

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When Powerball first reached $1 billion. Look back at the lottery frenzy

Over the years, Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots crossed the elusive billion-dollar mark a whopping 14 times. Only once did it surpass $2 billion.

What would you do if you won a $1.586 billion lottery prize?

It’s been almost a decade since Powerball and Mega Millions lottery games first reached $1 billion. Over the years, the jackpots crossed the elusive billion-dollar mark a whopping 14 times. Only once has a lottery jackpot surpassed $2 billion ? on Feb. 14, 2023, or Valentine’s Day, Edwin Castro of Altadena, California, claimed the epic $2.04 billion Powerball win from the Nov. 7, 2022, Powerball drawing for $1.9 billion (final ticket sales pushed the total past $2 billion).

Though a few Powerball and Mega Millions lottery streaks came close to shattering that record, including the recent 2025 Christmas Eve Powerball for $1.817 billion, the $2.04 billion windfall remains the largest lottery prize in U.S. history.

When was the first time a lottery jackpot hit $1 billion?

Powerball made history Jan. 11, 2016, the first time a lottery jackpot hit $1 billion. After no one matched all five numbers plus the Powerball in the (Saturday) Jan. 9, 2016, drawing for $949 million, the Monday jackpot soared to $1.4 billion. (No one won that drawing either.) Powerball made history again when three tickets matched all six numbers to win $1.586 billion in the (Wednesday) Jan. 13, 2016, drawing.

The jackpot started Nov. 4, 2015, at $40 million. It had rolled over almost 30 times from Nov. 4, 2015, to Jan. 13, 2016, before three tickets from California, Tennessee and Florida, claimed the grand prize (see below).

Who won the first $1 billion lottery jackpot?

For the first time a lottery jackpot reached $1 billion, on Jan. 13, 2016, three winners claimed the Powerball prize — $1.586 billion split three ways between:

John and Lisa Robinson of Munford, Tennessee, took the cash value of $327.8 million, and publicly claimed their winnings in an interview with Savannah Guthrie and Carson Daly on NBC’s “Today” show.
Maureen Smith and David Kaltschmidt of Melbourne Beach, Florida, came forward in February 2016 at lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, Florida. The couple also opted for a one-time lump sum of $327.8 million.
Marvin and Mae Acosta of California declined to appear in photos or video and claimed their $327.8 million at California Lottery headquarters six months after the $1.586 billion Powerball drawing.

Who won $1.586 billion Powerball lottery jackpot in Florida? Who sold winning ticket?

Maureen Smith and David Kaltschmidt had purchased their Powerball ticket near their home at a Publix grocery store in Melbourne Beach, Florida.

According to FLORIDA TODAY, Kaltschmidt worked as a manufacturing engineer at Northrop Grumman and, in 2016 said he would retire. Smith had referred to herself as a homemaker.

The duo claimed their prize as the Nickel 95 Trust and indicated the moniker had special meaning to them, though they declined to say why.

The couple had moved to the Melbourne Beach area in 1991 from Long Island, New York.

Smith said she played the winning numbers of 4-8-19-27-34 with a Powerball of 10 for many years but she did not play the lottery itself that often. Those numbers, she said, did not have a special significance.

“I’ve been playing them for so many years I really don’t remember,” she said.

Kaltschmidt said he woke up on the morning of Jan. 14 and found the lottery sheet with the combination without any circles on it, which in their parlance would indicate missed numbers.

“Oddly enough, I checked the ticket and everything matched up so I said, ‘she’s messing with me,’” he joked.

The Powerball generated more than $114 million for schools in the state of Florida. And Publix, 3830 State Road A1A, Melbourne Beach, Florida, received $100,000 for selling the winning ticket.