The Biggest UK Powerball Winners of All Time
On this page, you'll find the ten biggest UK Powerball winners since the game was launched in summer 2026… or rather, you will once there have been any! In the meantime, this page will display the top five biggest Powerball winners from when the game was US-only.
The GBP currency conversions for each jackpot were done in April 2026, and are just to give readers a quick comparison – due to fluctuating exchange rates, they won't be particularly accurate! There are two important differences between UK and US Powerball, too. US jackpot winners have the option to accept a 30-year annuity comprising the advertised value of the jackpot, or a substantially smaller one-time cash payment. Although the majority of US winners choose the cash option, UK winners are only able to receive the annuity. UK readers can also relax at any mentions of tax on lottery winnings. Although this is standard in the US, we are not aware of any plans to tax UK lottery winnings.
Winner: Edwin Castro (California)
The world's biggest jackpot was won by a single player in California, Edwin Castro. Castro took the cash option instead of the annuity, taking home $997 million (£736 million) before tax. His identity was disclosed as required by California law, but he has chosen to remain personally private about his win, turning down media opportunities.
Winner: Anonymous (Arkansas)
Although this jackpot wasn't the biggest by quite a long way, it actually broke the record for the most Powerball draws without a win: 46 rollovers! One lucky winner in Arkansas woke up to a truly unimaginable Christmas present when they discovered their ticket was the sole winner. They chose the cash option of $834.9 million (£616 million) before tax and opted to remain anonymous.
Winners: Anonymous (Missouri) and Seven Bridges Revocable Trust (Texas)
For this draw there were two winning tickets, but they probably didn't mind sharing – the winners opted for the one-time payment of $410.3 million (£303 million) each. Although both winners chose to remain anonymous, Texas law required the anonymous winner (or winners, if it was a syndicate) to claim publicly using a legal trust to obscure their name. This is standard practice in a handful of states, so American audiences are used to it.
Winners: Group represented by Theodorus Struyck (California)
This jackpot was back-to-back with another billion-dollar jackpot won earlier that year in July. Five months after the prize was won in California, the cash value of the jackpot, $774.1 million (£571.5 million), was claimed by Theodorus Struyck. Struyck represented a group of winners, presumably a syndicate of some kind, preserving the anonymity of the other winners.
Winners: The Robinsons (Tennessee), The Acostas (California), and David & Maureen (Florida)
The draw for the fifth-biggest Powerball jackpot so far was won by three tickets with all of the winners going public, which is always nice! John & Lisa Robinson of Tennessee, David Kaltschmidt & Maureen Smith of Florida, and Marvin & Mae Acosta of California all took home a pre-tax cash prize of $528.8 million (£390.4 million).
