The largest U.S. lottery prize ever was a $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot won by three players in 2016. 

The odds of winning a jackpot are overwhelmingly slim at 1 in 302.5 million for Mega Millions and 1 in 292.2 million for Powerball.

The following are the 10 biggest Mega Millions jackpots ever, along with where the tickets were purchased:

$1.54 billion — one winning ticket in South Carolina (October 2018)
$656 million — three winning tickets in Illinois, Kansas and Maryland (March 2012)
$648 million — two winning tickets in California and Georgia (December 2013)
$615 million — unknown if there are winners (January 2021)
$543 million — one winning ticket in California (July 2018)
$536 million — one winning ticket in Indiana (July 2016)
$533 million — one winning ticket in New Jersey (March 2018)
$522 million — one winning ticket in California (June 2019)
$451 million — one winning ticket in Florida (January 2018)
$437 million — one winning ticket in New York (January 2019)