Many who play the lottery do so with the hope of winning it big. Whether you get your Powerball tickets with the dream of taking home the grand prize or try your lucky numbers on a Pick 3 game, there may be a part of you that’s waiting for the day you match those six numbers or pick the exact winning sequence and experience the thrill of taking home hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.
If you’re anything like most people, you’ve spent at least some time dreaming of what you’d do if you won the lottery. But have you ever considered what you’d do if you won the lottery twice?
How many times can you win the lottery? Has anyone won the lottery twice? Read on for a closer look at some multiple lottery winners who’ve experienced a once-in-a-lifetime prize twice or more.
Has Anyone Won the Lottery Twice?
Believe it or not, there are multiple lottery winners out there. In fact, one New York man did the seemingly impossible and beat the odds not once but twice in one night in November 2022. The winner got both winning tickets from the same convenience store, then claimed two $1 million Mega Million prizes a year later, just before the drawing deadline.
Double wins seem to be in the water in New York, with another New York Lottery enthusiast taking home two $10 million grand prizes within the span of 16 months. Like the 2022 winner mentioned above, this New Yorker got both scratch-off game tickets from a single convenience store in Brooklyn, beating odds of 1:3.5 million and 1:3.6 million, respectively, for each game played.
The list goes on, with lottery fans all around the world taking home multiple prizes. From Massachusetts residents claiming two $1 million prizes within 10 weeks to an Australian truck driver first surviving a devastating heart attack, only to get a lottery ticket and win a car, then get another lottery ticket and bring home $250,000 AUD after leaving the hospital, stories of lucky guesses, matching ticket numbers and multiple lottery winners span the globe.
Who Has Won the Lottery the Most Times?
As of July 2024, Stefan Mandel has won the lottery the most times, with a total of 14 wins spanning two decades.
Who Won the Largest Lottery Prize?
California resident Edwin Castro may not have won the lottery twice, but he currently holds the record for the largest lottery prize ever won. Castro’s lottery ticket numbers matched all five Powerball numbers from a November 2022 drawing, landing him a record-breaking Powerball jackpot of $2.04 billion.
After months of verification, he took home the ultimate Valentine’s Day present in February 2023.
How Many Times Can You Win the Lottery?
Theoretically, there’s no cap on how many times you could win the lottery, nor are there any laws prohibiting past winners from playing the lottery again. That means if you win once, you could play the same game or any other again and potentially win another prize. Past winners have the same exact odds of winning the lottery as they did before ever winning a lottery prize.
Hot topic: Has anyone ever won the Powerball online?
What Are the Odds of Winning the Lottery Twice?
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are roughly 1 in 292.2 million, while Mega Millions are slightly less favorable, with odds of 1 to 302.6 million.
Surprisingly enough, winning the lottery once doesn’t increase or decrease your odds of winning the lottery again, according to Dr. Mark Glickman, a Harvard statistics professor.
Are There Any Ways to Increase Your Odds of Winning?
In reality, there’s no way to increase your chances of winning or guarantee a matching Powerball number. If there were, there would likely be more jackpot winners around. However, there are a few things to consider beforehand to better understand the overall odds of winning a prize.
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Research the game. Generally speaking, scratch-off games have a set amount of winning prizes to distribute. You can find out how many prizes remain for each game on your state’s lottery website, allowing you to determine if it’s worth getting a ticket or if you should consider another game.
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Learn about the most common winning numbers. Statistics indicate that, even though every number may have the same likelihood of being drawn in lotteries like the Mega Millions, some are drawn more frequently in a given period. For instance, in 2024, the three most common white Mega Millions numbers drawn were 58, 19, and 61, and the most common gold numbers were 1, 7, and 11. Similarly, the most commonly drawn Powerball numbers in 2024 were 44, 69, and 36 for white numbers and 21, 9, and 23 for red numbers.
Game guide: Most drawn Mega Millions numbers in 2024
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