The Largest Lottery Jackpots in Texas History

Your odds of winning the lottery are incredibly low, but they’re never zero. Every time someone wins over $1 billion, it’s hard not to ruminate on the wasted opportunity. Could it have been you? Could you have been catapulted to generational wealth numbers in your bank account overnight? Probably not, but maybe.

The city is on a winning streak of draft lotteries, anyway, so maybe the luck is transferable.

For Dallasites, the jealousy is especially potent right now, knowing not too far away, someone is cashing a $400 million check after winning the second-largest Powerball drawing in history. Unfortunately for the mysterious winner from Kerrville, the multi-state organization declared two winners, so they will have to split the $1.8 billion, pre-tax, and settle for a measly one-time payout of $410.3 million, or an annuitized prize of $893.5 million paid out over 29 years.

The other winner was in Missouri, but we don’t care about them. We’re more focused on our distant neighbor and what they might buy with their newfound cash. Will they buy homes? Cars? A slew of Dairy Queen apparati from now-defunct Texas ice cream slingers? Maybe they’ll make generous donations to their state’s best alt-weekly. We hope they pick that option.

We didn’t pull our cash together at the office and send the lowest-rung employee to the nearby 7-Eleven for some tickets, probably saving ourselves a workplace spat on how to split the loot, but the recent winner has us thinking maybe we should next time. After all, no one knows how long the Texas Lottery has left.

In 2023, a group of three European men purchased 99% of the 25.8 million Texas Lottery number combos for $1 each through an online courier. They won a cool $95 million, or about $20 million each. The jackpot was paid out, but in the last legislative session, lawmakers made sure no one could do it ever again.

The Texas Lottery Commission was decommissioned the second Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill giving regulatory powers to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and banning the sale of lottery tickets through online couriers. But the state lottery was solidified until 2029, at least in the bill, so maybe we will send someone to the gas station the next time the pot climbs over the 10-figures. Until then, we’ll be reflecting on our misfortunes and missed chances.

Everything is bigger here, after all. In case you needed a reminder of all the money that could have been yours, though it is unlikely to be, here are the biggest lottery winners in Texas history.

7. $144 Million

Jan. 29, 2010

The winner, William Keifer of Katy, made headlines for promising to donate 60% of his post-tax winnings to charity. What a guy.

6. $145 million

June 19, 2004

One winner from El Paso claimed a single payout of $61.9 million, post-tax. Alfredo Ornelas Barragan turned in his winning ticket before the state allowed winners to legally shield their identities, which didn't happen for another 14 years.

5. $227 Million

Sept. 24, 2019

At the time, this was the biggest single-ticket winner in Texas lottery history. One winner from Cedar Park took home $157,091,592.

4. $360 Million

Oct. 6, 2023

This win beat the record set just four years earlier for the largest singular payout lottery win in Texas lottery history. Choosing the one-day-payday option, an anonymous person in South Dakota who purchased the winning ticket in San Angelo, Texas, received a whopping $157,367,045.

3. $564 Million

Feb. 11, 2015

This one stings. Ten years ago, a single winner in Princeton, on the edge of Collin County, won a third of half a billion dollars. The other winners were located in North Carolina and Puerto Rico, but again, just a few short miles north of the Observer's office, someone won $127 million. If there’s any left over, we once again share our contribution link. Support local journalism.

2. $810 Million

Sept. 10, 2024

One singular winner from Sugar Land struck gold with a winning ticket from Murphy USA. The winner chose the singular payout and took home $409.3 million pre-tax.

1. $1.787 Billion

Sept. 6, 2025

The ticket, purchased in Fredericksburg, has a total value of $410.3 million once split with the other winner in Missouri. By law, winners who win over $1 million in Texas can opt to stay anonymous if they claim their prize through a trust. So we may never know who the lucky Central Texan is, but it’s a good reminder to treat people with kindness, just in case they’re a secret and generous multi-millionaire.