# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/21 "2005-08-01T22:30:08Z")
I sometimes play scratchers. The best I’ve done is winning $50 on a $20 ticket. Best I’ve done with a machine game is $7 (Powerball, I believe.) I generally head to the casino if I’m serious about doing some gambling. Scratchers are boring. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/22 "2005-08-01T22:45:00Z")
$474 when I got 5 out of 6 numbers in the Colorado lottery. ---
**Author:** ![CantUseMyRealName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@CantUseMyRealName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CantUseMyRealName)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/23 "2005-08-01T23:35:43Z")
$250 from a $1 mega millions ticket i was in line behind a guy who won $50,000 on a scratch off ticket a few years ago ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2005, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/24 "2005-08-01T23:52:47Z")
Back when California’s lottery worked on the 6/49 system, I got several $5.00 wins (three matching numbers) a year, buying two $1 tickets a week. Once or twice a year I matched four numbers, worth a prize of roughly $50 to $80. Since they’ve changed to the 6/52 (?) with vastly longer odds, the most I’ve ever gotten is a free replay. ☹ I really should stop bothering. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/25 "2005-08-02T01:26:09Z")
When my state started Quinto I bought a couple tickets for the first drawing and won $300. Haven’t won a penny on that game since. My mother hit 5 of the 6 numbers in the Lotto game twice and won $712 and $654. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/26 "2005-08-02T02:02:44Z")
I have purchased exactly one lottery ticket in my life. It won me $20, and I decided to quit while I was ahead. The store owner who sold it to me (and from whom I collected the $20) spent some time trying to convince me that I should take my winnings in additional tickets. He eventually forked over the money, with some mutterings about how I was “screwing up the system” with my insistence on a cash payout. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/27 "2005-08-02T02:20:02Z")
Grand total = $0. Oh, I guess you’ve got to buy tickets to win. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/28 "2005-08-02T03:09:07Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > 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: Doesn’t sound weird to me. Four million just isn’t the sort of money it used to be… Per the OP, from a scratch off? I won $25 on a ticket I didn’t even buy. I found a pile of scratched off lottery tickets when I was 16 or so across the street from a bar, and for some reason I decided to pick them up and check 'em. Sure enough, somebody had neglected to notice their $25 prize, so I cashed it in, and treated my friends to pizza. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/29 "2005-08-02T18:22:14Z")
$1,500 - back when that Illinois guy won that huge amount back in the 80’s sometime. I don’t remember the details. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/30 "2005-08-02T19:52:25Z")
My MIL hands out a bunch of scratch off tickets at Christmas and between my husband and I we usually get $20-30. I think the most from one individual ticket was $20 off a $2 ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/31 "2005-08-03T12:13:23Z")
$500.00. I had a hunch on a 3 digit number, played it and won. It was about 10 years ago and was the only time I played the 3 digit number in the past 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/32 "2005-08-03T14:03:42Z")
I only buy tickets the day after a drawing so I can dream for the entire week. When I am in the States, I stay at my Mother’s house. So I let her check the tickets. I never win anything. Or so she claims. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150/33 "2005-08-03T19:25:47Z")
$1466 Figure $2 a week on the bi-weekly lotto draws since I turned 18, and that’s the amount I _haven’t_ spent on voluntary taxes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-you-ever-won-on-the-lottery/315150.md?page=1)