Those odds apparently do not apply to Stefan Mandel, a Romanian-Australian economist who's won the lottery 14 times, The Hustle reported in a feature on the mathematician. Mandel's first two wins were in his native Romania, where he was trying to earn enough money to get his family out of the then-communist country.
What are the most commonly drawn Powerball numbers? According to Powerball.net, the most common winning main numbers over the last decade are: 61 (113 times), 21 (112 times), 23 (110 times), 33 (108 times), 69 (107 times) and 63 (104 times).
Jerry and Marge Selbee legally won around $26 to $27 million over nearly a decade by exploiting a loophole in state lotteries, particularly Michigan's WinFall, turning their winnings into roughly $8 million in profit after taxes, which they used to help their family and community. They didn't cheat but used math and large ticket purchases during special "roll-down" periods when jackpots rolled down to lower-tier winners.
Shane Missler, 20, was the sole winner of the $450 Mega Millions jackpot that was drawn on January 5. When he revealed himself this week to the public, it became known he opted for a lump-sum payment of $281.9 million ($211.4 million after taxes) instead of annual payments.
Yes, you can often remain anonymous when you win the lottery, but it depends entirely on the state where you bought the ticket, with some states allowing full anonymity, some only for large prizes, and others requiring disclosure. Even in states that don't allow anonymity, you can sometimes use a legal entity like a blind trust or LLC to claim the prize, hiding your personal identity from the public record.
The biggest mistake a lottery winner can make is failing to immediately assemble a professional financial and legal team and acting impulsively, leading to rapid depletion of wealth through overspending, bad investments, tax issues, or succumbing to requests for money, often compounded by making the win too public. Rushing into big life decisions, quitting jobs too soon, and not accounting for significant tax implications are critical errors that can ruin a life-changing fortune quickly.
If you chose to pick up your first Lottery payment from a California Lottery District Office, your first Lottery prize payment will be available for pickup within six to eight weeks of your claim. Future payments can be mailed directly to your home address or to your financial institution for deposit into your account.
You must pay federal income tax if you win
You'll fall into the highest tax bracket in the year you win if you take the jackpot in a lump sum. For 2024 and 2025, this means you'll likely owe the IRS at least 37% in taxes.
Reading the fine print, Selbee — a math whiz who had spent much of his career as a materials analyst at a Kellogg's cereal factory — quickly realized that the lottery had a mathematical flaw that would mean guaranteed winnings if he bought enough tickets.
Yes, countless people have won Powerball jackpots and smaller prizes using Quick Pick (computer-generated numbers), with data showing roughly 80% of winning tickets are Quick Picks because most players use them, meaning random machine picks win just as often as player-chosen numbers. Major jackpots, including multi-billion dollar ones, have been won by Quick Pick tickets, demonstrating that any number combination has an equal chance.
According to math experts, the only way to increase your chances of winning is to buy more tickets. To avoid splitting a potential jackpot, players should select random numbers and include numbers higher than 31.
After his epic $2.04 billion Powerball lottery win, Edwin Castro splurged − for himself and his parents. After November 2022, news reports show Castro bought two multimillion-dollar homes in his home state of California weeks after he publicly claimed his prize from the California Lottery.
Whittaker retired in 2012 and is survived by his wife, Natalie, whom he married nearly 60 years ago after three months' courtship, and their five children: Emily, Lauren, Jessica, Guy, and Alexander.
Yes, people have won the Powerball (or other major lotteries) twice, though it's extremely rare, with some winners getting multiple $1 million prizes in the same drawing by buying duplicate tickets, while others win jackpot-level prizes years apart, like Evelyn Adams who won twice in the 1980s. Recent examples include a Massachusetts man winning two $1 million prizes in July 2025 and another individual winning twice in Connecticut in October 2025, showcasing how incredibly unlikely but possible it is.
9 of The Best Banks For High Net Worth Individuals
Do lottery winnings count as earned income for Social Security purposes? Lottery winnings are not considered earned income, no matter how much work it was purchasing your tickets. Therefore, they do not affect your Social Security benefits.