One of the things many people around the world dream about is winning a lottery. This dream is pursued by millions and millions all over the world to buy tickets week after week, thus funding not only the jackpots of the draw but often programs that benefit entire communities. In Canada and other countries, lotteries routinely fund education, infrastructure, and other projects. And quite often, they make millionaires.
Mind over chance
“Visualization is daydreaming with a purpose”, author Bo Bennet said – and a Grand Island woman apparently took this to heart.
A family in Grand Island, Nebraska, USA, became millionaires overnight after the lady of the house – the proud owner of a crystal shop – visualized them doing so. When stopping for gas on their way home from Omaha, the family picked up a scratch-off ticket and also bought a Powerball. The ticket paid $3 but the Powerball paid way more: when running it through the scanner, they found out they won $1 million.
Perseverance pays off
A North Carolina man was truly determined to become a big winner. So much so that he searched for four hours through 40 stores, buying every single $20 Mega Cash scratch-off ticket he could find. Finally, he found the right one – one ticket was worth $5 million in annuity or $3 million cash.
He opted for the latter option – to get the amount in a one-time payoff that, after state tax, put $2.1 million in his pockets. Considering the time he spent scratching, he earned more than a decent hourly rate.
“Lucky guy”
A man in Brampton, Ontario, a self-described “lucky guy”, more than earned his chosen nickname with a big win this January: he took home a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million. He didn’t find out about his big win until next morning: while warming up his car, he scanned the ticket in the OLG app. It returned an error message at first, then returned the message “Big Winner”.
The biggest jackpots
The biggest lottery jackpots in the world can be found in the US. The highest-ever lottery jackpot was a bit over $1.5 billion, won by three lucky Americans in 2016. The Powerball jackpot rarely grows to such heights, though – usually, it is won more often.
This year’s biggest win so far, that makes the sum pocketed the recent winner of a Mega Moolah jackpot feel like loose change, was hit about a month ago in Arizona, USA. The lucky winner who preferred to remain anonymous was the owner of a ticket worth $414 million this June.
The amount sounds truly amazing, make no mistake, even after tax: Arizona’s very first Mega Millions jackpot winner became richer by a net amount of almost $320 million.
