AUSTIN (KXAN) — Even if you don’t win the jackpot, there’s still a lot of money up for grabs in the lottery.
In fact, almost 2,000 Texans have become overnight millionaires by purchasing a ticket.
Since being introduced in 1992, the Texas Lottery has handed out almost $12.6 billion in prizes to players, as of Sept. 11, 2023.
A total of 1,916 players have won more than $1 million and 227 have won more than $10 million, according to data from the Texas Lottery Commission.
Meanwhile, four lucky players have won at least $100 million.
Here’s a look at the 10 largest lottery wins in state history:
The top 10 all won more than $60 million. The largest lottery prize ever in Texas was more than $157 million.
An anonymous resident in Leander purchased a winning Mega Millions ticket worth $227 million for a drawing in September 2019. They opted for the cash value option, meaning they took home $157 million.
The largest prizes within Texas pale in comparison to the largest jackpots in U.S. history. A record $2.04 billion was won in California in a November 2022 Powerball drawing. That’s about 13 times more than the largest prize ever won in Texas.
Since 1992, people from 45 states have won at least $10,000 in the Texas Lottery, including more than 53,000 people from Texas itself.
Outside the Lone Star State, Oklahoma has the most winners, 116, while Louisiana is second with 95. New Mexico, Arkansas and Florida all have more than 50 people who have won at least $10,000.
Outside of the U.S., people in six countries have won at least $10,000. Mexico has 77 Texas Lottery winners above that dollar amount, while Canada has three.
Belize, China, Pakistan and the United Kingdom all have one winner above $10,000.
