The Biggest Jackpots & Lotteries Of All Time

There's been quite a lot of talk about record jackpots this month. First we had news of the UK Lotto record, worth £66 million, but that amount was overshadowed by a jackpot over 16 and a half times larger – the epic £1.09 billion jackpot of American giant PowerBall.

Now that the jackpot has been won the lottery world will never be the same. Which begs the question – how does this new record-breaking amount change the current lottery rankings?

The Biggest Lottery In The World

While PowerBall's been getting all the hype of late it's still not the biggest lottery in the world. Its last jackpot, worth £1.09 billion, though staggering, is still a considerable amount less than the amount paid out in prizes by the Spanish Christmas Lottery, a.k.a. "El Gordo", which in 2015 had a prize pool of £1.6 billion.

But could PowerBall ever unseat El Gordo to take the title of "Biggest Lottery in the World?" If you had asked us at Christmas we would have considered it highly unlikely, but after the past couple of weeks we have to admit that now there's a distinct possibility.

The Biggest Jackpots In The World

In the race for the biggest ever lottery jackpot PowerBall now moves up to first place to become the undisputed lottery jackpot heavyweight.

This means that the previous title-holder, MegaMillions, moves down to second place.  

PowerBall not only has the biggest jackpot in history in its credit, it enjoys seven out of ten of the top jackpot values of all time.

So currently, as of January 2016, the world rankings are as follows:

The Biggest Ever Lottery Win

Not only has PowerBall given us the biggest lottery jackpot in the world, it's also given us the biggest ever lottery win. In May 2013 PowerBall also won the record for the largest lottery amount ever won by a single person when octogenarian Gloria C. Mackenzie from Florida claimed the full jackpot worth $590 million, or, at current rates, £416.8 million.

Other Highest Lottery Wins 

What about other lotteries? Well, in the table below you'll find details of the biggest jackpots, plus biggest single-winner prizes ever won in the UK Lotto plus other popular lotteries at Lottoland:

Biggest Lottery Win In The UK

The biggest lottery jackpot ever won in Britain belongs to Colin and Chris Weir, the Scottish couple who famously won £161.6 million on EuroMillions back in 2011.

Here's the full list of the biggest British lottery winners:

Biggest EuroMillions Jackpots

Currently all the biggest UK lottery wins have come from EuroMillions. If you're curious about the biggest EuroMillions winners of all time, meanwhile, we've already got a full article on the subject here.