This New England State Sold One of the Largest US Lottery Jackpots Ever Won

There have been a lot of big lottery jackpots won in the US, and one of them was claimed right here in New England for a whopping $758.7 million.

According to the Multi-State Lottery Association, Mavis Wanczyk of Chicopee, Massachusettes bought five Powerball tickets back in 2017 and one of those tickets matched all five numbers and the Powerball. No other ticket sold had these numbers, making her the sole winner of a $758.7 million Powerball jackpot.

At the time, it was the largest jackpot prize won on a single ticket in U.S. lottery history.

Here's a video of Wanczyk stepping up to claim her prize while chewing fiercely on a piece of gum.

Even though she won $758 million, she chose the lump sum payout of $480,500,936, but then out came the federal and state taxes leaving her with $336,350,655 to take home. That's still not bad, but $144 million to the government? Wow!

The winning jackpots have gotten larger and larger since Wanczyk's 2017 win. We all remember just recently the record-breaking Powerball jackpot of $2.04 billion won by a resident of California.

The Associated Press compiled a list of the top 10 largest lottery jackpots ever won, and Mavis Wanczyk's win has dropped down to number 7.

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 8, 2022 (one ticket, from California)

2. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016 (three tickets, from California, Florida, Tennessee)

3. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018 (one ticket, from South Carolina)

4. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022 (one ticket, from Illinois)

5. $1.05 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021 (one ticket, from Michigan)

6. $768.4 million, Powerball, March 27, 2019 (one ticket, from Wisconsin)

7. $758.7 million, Powerball, Aug. 23, 2017 (one ticket, from Massachusetts)

8. $731.1 million, Powerball, Jan. 20, 2021 (one ticket, from Maryland)

9. $699.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 4, 2021 (one ticket, from California)

10. $687.8 million, Powerball, Oct. 27, 2018 (two tickets, from Iowa and New York)