# What's the most you ever won on the lottery? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150 "2005-08-01T15:55:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davmilasav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@davmilasav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davmilasav)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/1 "2005-08-01T15:55:56Z")
Powerball, scratch offs, plain old lottery tickets…what was your biggest take? I am a casual lottery player. I buy maybe 10 tickets a year, mostly when the state lotto or Powerball is insanely high. So far my biggest haul has been…$4.00. Wahoo. :rolleyes: Any dopers got better luck than me? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/2 "2005-08-01T15:58:43Z")
Nope no better luck than you… However, my wife works with a woman who won the state lottery twice. Once for 1 mil, second for 3 mil… And she still works. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/3 "2005-08-01T16:03:31Z")
The first three times I bought scratch-off tickets, I won $20 each. I think a dozen or so people started playing after watching me. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/4 "2005-08-01T16:10:59Z")
Ten tickets a year, eh? I bought 3 one-dollar scratch-off tickets last week (turned 18 recently), and won four dollars. I figure I’ll quit while I’m (a whole dollar 😛 ) ahead. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/5 "2005-08-01T16:12:59Z")
I’ve had a few $100 scratch-off winners. For the lotto, I was part of a group that won something like $1,200. However, our individual take would have only been about $60, so we all just rolled it over into the next week’s drawing. There, we won like $700…so we rolled it again. Nada after that. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/6 "2005-08-01T16:22:20Z")
The princely sum of £106 - about US$186 - for 4 balls on the UK lottery. Next highest is £58, also for 4 balls. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/7 "2005-08-01T16:59:43Z")
In 1986 or so, I got 5 numbers out of 6 in the German Lotto. Total of $3,500. A good friend of my SO actually won $1 million. He bought a condo, a hugeass car, and a business with his lover. The business went belly up, the car eventually fell to pieces, but at least he still owns the condo. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/8 "2005-08-01T17:43:01Z")
I won $1000 on a $3 scratch-off once. I bought tires for my Wrangler and my first hockey jersey. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/9 "2005-08-01T17:50:42Z")
$100. I only buy a couple tickets a week. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/10 "2005-08-01T17:54:50Z")
I won $1000 on a $5 scratch off about 10 years ago. About a month or so before Christmas, I bought Christmas presents. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/11 "2005-08-01T18:18:45Z")
$5 Since I only play when the jackpot’s really big ($50M+), but I never know what the jackpot is (since I don’t watch the news and don’t drive by any CA lottery billboards regularly), I maybe buy 3 tickets a year. So I’m still down a few bucks overall. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/12 "2005-08-01T18:34:56Z")
A few years back I purchased a ticket good for the entire month from my daughter’s swim-team. My number hit on one of the days that month, so I won $50. Wanting to help the swim-team, I told them to keep the money. At the awards banquet I got a nice thank you. The next year, the same thing happened. I told the woman that the team could keep my winnings. At the awards banquet they asked me to stand up and announced my donation. Seems my number hit on the “grand prize” day. I donated $500, not $50. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/13 "2005-08-01T18:49:33Z")
Two seperate hits of over 100 clams. Every once in a while a 5 clam scratchoff. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/14 "2005-08-01T18:58:55Z")
$50 from a scratch-off that I got from my job (gas station attendant - we had a contest to see who could sell the most scratch-offs in a month). $7 from Powerball. Go me. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/15 "2005-08-01T19:15:06Z")
$5. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/16 "2005-08-01T19:19:48Z")
I think the most I’ve won is around $100, on a scratch ticket. My dad buys them fairly frequently, and when I was younger, he would often buy my sister and one when he went into the store, and let us keep any money we won. I won $100 when I was very young this way - true to his word, I got to keep it! I do think he wished he kept that for himself, though. I forget what I spent it on, but I was about 10 so it was probably something silly. He can’t complain though, he always wins more than he loses. He and my mom go to casinos sometimes, and he always walks out with more than when he went in. My mother says he has a leprechaun up his ass. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Damage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@Mister\_Damage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Damage)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/17 "2005-08-01T19:32:02Z")
I actually hit $1000 on a $5 scratch once — that was high enough to trigger the state taking out taxes automatically. I’ve hit $100 a couple of times. I don’t play that often — once or twice a month, maybe, when the spirit moves me. ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/18 "2005-08-01T20:52:26Z")
About three months back I won $189 on the Super Lotto. I almost never buy scratch offs, but routinely win more than I spend when I do. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/19 "2005-08-01T21:15:38Z")
I won $50 on a scratch off that someone gave me. I never buy lottery tickets for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/20 "2005-08-01T21:38:10Z")
$2. On the first $1 lottery ticket I ever bought. 100% profit! I should’ve quit while I was ahead though. A few years later I bought another ticket and didn’t get squat. Oh well, at least I’m even on the game! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150.md?page=2)