A US lottery player has won $1.58 billion (£1.18 billion) in one of the largest hauls of all time.
The unnamed player bought the ticket in a Florida supermarket and won the rollover jackpot against odds of one in 300 million. Players in the Mega Millions game select five numbers that must be matched against a gold “mega ball”.
“It’s entertaining for our players and all of us to see the Mega Millions jackpot roll to what looks like an all-time game record,” a spokesman said.
The identity of the winner will be kept quiet for 90 days and can then be found out by the press.
Here are some of the biggest lottery wins of all time.
Greatest jackpot in a national lottery
US citizen Edwin Castro was the sole winner of the record-breaking $2.05 billion (£1.79 billion) California Lottery jackpot in November 2022.
However, he chose to receive £872 million all at once rather than the full amount over 29 years – and this was before taxes were taken into account. Mr Castro’s win broke the $1.58 billion (£1.09 billion) record previously held.
Highest amount won in Europe
A 90-player syndicate based in Italy won the national SuperEnalotto jackpot of €371 million in February. Each winner took home about €4 million (£3.4 million).
The figure is higher than the Europe-wide EuroMillions jackpot record.
EuroMillions record
The jackpot of €230 million (£195 million) was won by a British player in July 2022, the most ever won in the UK.
For context, pop stars Adele is worth £150 million and Tom Jones £180 million.
The British player has stayed anonymous.
British National Lottery record
Surprisingly, the record haul in the British National Lottery dates back to 1996 when £42 million was shared between three players.
