New Jersey’s Biggest Lottery Winners
New Jersey is famous for lots of things; its beautiful beaches and boardwalks, for being the home of Thomas Edison, the site of the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, for hoagies AND subs. Now it’s time to add another item to the list, LUCK and its handful of New Jersey lottery winners. Garden State residents are some of the luckiest in the US, winning huge lottery jackpots that have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars. Let’s take a look at some of New Jersey’s big winners and see how you can join them.
1. Anonymous, $1.128 Billion, Mega Millions, March 26, 2024
Following a 15-week growth streak, the Mega Millions® jackpot saw its first 2024 winner in New Jersey, totaling $1.128 billion ($536.6 million cash) on March 26th. This achievement marks the game’s fifth-largest jackpot to date. The winning combination comprised numbers 7, 11, 22, 29, 38, along with Mega Ball 4.
The winning ticket, purchased at ShopRite Liquor #781 in Neptune Township, marked the end of a jackpot run that produced over 29.9 million winning tickets nationwide. After nine months, the anonymous winner finally brought the winning ticket for this astounding jackpot before Lottery officials. They opted for the cash value of the prize, which comes to $537.5 million ($280.4 million after state and federal taxes).
2. Richard Wahl, $533 Million, Mega Millions, March 30, 2018
Richard Wahl made history and secured his place in our NJ lottery winners list when he was the lone winner of a $533 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot on March 30th 2018, the largest prize ever won in the state of New Jersey. Wahl used Quick Pick to correctly match the numbers 11, 28, 31, 46, 59 and Mega Ball 1 to win his incredible jackpot. Rather than receiving the full jackpot amount in 30 annuity payments over 29 years, Wahl decided to take the lump cash sum of $324.6 million. Almost as incredible as his jackpot is the fact that Wahl won it on only his second try at playing the lottery! Talk about beginner’s luck!
Wahl is a manager at a northern New Jersey food production company and moved to the state only a year beforehand from Michigan. Among his plans for the prize money: restoring a 1963 Corvette and helping family.
3. Ocean’s 16, $448 Million Powerball, August 7, 2013
August 7th, 2013 turned out to be a very lucky night for sixteen employees of the Ocean County Vehicle Services Department. The group, who dubbed themselves the Ocean’s 16, were one of three lucky winners of a $448 million Powerball jackpot! Opting for the lump sum cash payment, the group took home $86,054,355. The Oceans 16 group played 48 lines of New Jersey Powerball in total, using Quick Pick to select each one.
This incredible jackpot win was a stunning reversal of fortune for six members of the group, whose houses had suffered damage from hurricane Sandy in 2012.
4. The Smith Family Lottery Pool, $429.6 Million Powerball, May 13, 20164.
The Smith Family Lottery Pool struck it rich with a $429.6 million Powerball jackpot win on Friday, May 13th, 2016. The Smith Family Lottery Pool was comprised of eight members of the Smith family: matriarch Pearlie Mae Smith and her seven adult children, all residents of Trenton and Newark. Pearlie Mae Smith is a pastor who rarely plays the NJ lottery online, however, she felt compelled to buy two Powerball tickets based on numbers that came to her “in a dream.”
The winning numbers were 5, 25, 26, 44, 66, and Powerball 9. It certainly is a good thing that she listened to her intuition! A year after their big win, the family opened the Smith Family Foundation to fight poverty in their home town of Trenton.
5. Elaine and Harold Messner, $390 Million, Mega Millions, 2007
The couple and another lucky player from Georgia shared this impressive Mega Millions in NJ jackpot. Apparently, Harold had the terminal pick the numbers for them, and it may have turned out to be one of the best decisions they made. The couple chose to receive their prize as an annuity, about $87.4 million in cash after taxes.
6. Pedro Quezada, $338.3 Million, Powerball, 2013
A former owner of an Apple Deli Grocery, this Passaic man won a lump sum of about $152 million after taxes. In an interview, Quezada said he plans on splurging on a good car.
7. Tayeb Souami, $315.3 Million Powerball, May 19, 2018
On May 19th, 2018 Tayeb Souami was the sole winner of a $315.3 million Powerball jackpot. Souami, of Little Ferry in Bergen County, purchased his ticket at a ShopRite in Hackensack. He successfully matched the numbers 3, 6, 9, 17, 56 and Powerball 25 to win the jackpot. Souami took the cash option of $183.2 million rather than 30 annuity payments over 29 years.
Souami immigrated to the US, declining to specify from where, in 1996 and was working at a food importing company at the time of his win. He had refinanced his home to pay for his daughter’s college education, receiving the check a week before his incredible win. Souami found out he had won when the ticket-scanning machine directed him to take his winning ticket to the store clerk.
“The clerk kept saying, ‘oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,’ and my heart went just like a ‘Tom and Jerry’ cartoon when the heart went boom boom… and I found out after that I was the one.”
At the time of his win, Souami planned to consult with a financial advisor regarding his dream come true of a jackpot. He also said that he would absolutely take care of college tuition costs for his two daughters.
8. Michael Weirsky, $274 Million, Powerball, 2019
Weirsky’s story could have ended differently altogether, if not for a good Samaritan who returned his two lottery tickets to the store clerk in QuickCheck, Phillipsburg. He took them from the store, and a day later checked his numbers and found out he had won big. As for what advice he would give to future jackpot winners, he told ABC News, “Best thing I can tell him is to invest your money and learn how to say no because everybody’s going to come at you looking for money.”
9. Helen & Harry Lerner, $258 Million, Mega Millions, 2005
Only three days prior to their winning, the couple was still hawking pots and pans and driving economy cars. Then, their lives may have changed for good when they found out they won the Mega Millions jackpot. They couple took home $117 million after taxes.
10. Anonymous, $221 Million, Powerball, June 10, 2024
On June 10, 2024, a school bus driver won a life-changing $221 million Powerball jackpot. The winner is a regular customer at the local convenience store that sold the winning ticket, according to an employee. The name of the lucky winner may never be revealed, but they have a year to claim the winnings, which would stand at $71 million after federal and state taxes are deducted.
Order Official Lottery Tickets Online in New Jersey
As incredible as these stories are, there’s no way you can possibly win the lottery without ordering tickets first. The good news is that you can do so online in New Jersey – try TheLotter New Jersey for a convenient and secure experience!
