Biggest Indiana Lottery Winners

Indiana has enjoyed some amazing lottery prizes over the years, and you can learn all about the largest Hoosier jackpots and winner stories on this page. Indiana seems to be a very lucky place to play the lottery, boasting 39 Powerball jackpot wins - more than any other state!

According to Hoosier Lottery data released in 2019, there have been Powerball prizes claimed in 71 out of 92 counties since 2014, with a total of 313 wins statewide. The top five counties with the most wins are Marion (44 prizes), Lake (35 prizes), Allen (17 prizes), St. Joseph (15 prizes), and Hamilton (12 prizes).

Meanwhile, leading the five counties with the largest prize dollar amounts is Tippecanoe County, which easily earned its top spot due to a 2017 jackpot. Tippecanoe has had total winnings of $264,971,446 since 2014, followed by Allen ($3,662,120), Marion ($3,403,404), Johnson ($3,330,007), and Lake ($2,590,067).

The biggest jackpot for an Indiana-exclusive game was a $54.5 million Hoosier Lotto prize won on November 7, 2007 by 62-year-old retired steelworker Peter Gilbert. The East Chicago, IN resident, who used the ages of his grandchildren and his dog as the lucky numbers, opted for the lump sum payment of $40.4 million.

$536 million Mega Millions jackpot won by Warren D LLC

Call it beginner's luck. A couple from central Indiana scored this awesome jackpot the very first time they played Mega Millions! The couple, who live north of Indianapolis, hit the life-changing prize on July 8, 2016 and decided to stay anonymous.

A spokeswoman for the winners said they have two young children and will maintain a normal life as much as possible. "They are completely dedicated to continuing to be who they are," she said. "They want their kids to go to the schools they were going to go to anyway. They are very conscious of who are their friends."

The winners purchased five Quick Pick tickets from a gas station on Interstate 70 near Cambridge City while on their way to a childrens' sports event. The couple opted for a lump sum cash payment and received $271 million after tax withholdings.

Lottery winners in Indiana are allowed to keep their identities private by claiming prizes via an LLC or trust. Other prizes that have been claimed anonymously include a $34.5 million Hoosier Lotto prize in 2012 and a $57.6 million Powerball jackpot in 2008.

$435.3 million Powerball jackpot won by Anonymous

An Indiana man won this fantastic prize on February 22, 2017, and opted to remain anonymous by collecting his prize using a limited liability company. The lucky winner took the $263.5 million cash option, and ended up with $189.1 million in his pocket after taxes.

The man, who worked at a Lafayette manufacturer, purchased five tickets from a Super-Test Mini Mart in Lafayette, around 60 miles northwest of Indianapolis, on the day of the draw.

After finding out he'd won, the winner couldn't sleep and called his father. "I thought you were calling to tell me you won the lottery," his dad joked. "Maybe I did," the son said, and headed to his dad's house with a copy of the ticket, along with a gift of his father's favorite spiced jellybeans.

The biggest prize the winner, a Purdue University grad, had won previously was $100 on a scratch-off. He said he planned to help his family with education funds and was also thinking of earning an advanced degree and purchasing a new house and car. The winner is originally from elsewhere but considers Lafayette his home and said he would not leave Indiana for the time being.

$314.3 million Powerball jackpot won by the Coterel and Hiles Family

"I know the world is going to turn upside down," said David Coterel, 65, of Riverside, Ohio, as he and his two adult children claimed their Hoosier Lottery prize just two weeks after their win on August 25, 2007. Coterel and his children Lynn Hiles and David Coterel Jr. chose to receive the cash option of $145.9 million before tax withholdings.

Coterel is a retired General Motors auto worker who had lost his wife Dorothy to cancer three years earlier. His children, who are in their 40s, quit their jobs as a postal worker and auto parts plant employee following their big win.

Coterel bought their lucky Quick Pick ticket from a Speedway in Richmond, along the Indiana-Ohio border east of Indianapolis, on the day of the draw. When he realized they'd won the jackpot, "I lost it," he revealed. "I'm an emotional person, but I really lost it."

Remarkably, the store is only three miles away from a Speedway that sold a Powerball ticket worth $295.7 million to 13 Columbus, Ohio co-workers in July 1998.

$221.7 million Powerball jackpot won by Michael Reardon and Darin Fox

Two friends from southern Indiana became overnight multimillionaires on April 6, 2011 when they shared the Powerball top prize. The men both chose the cash option and received $111.7 million each, or around $40 million after withholdings.

32-year-old Darin Fox of Clarksville and 38-year-old Todd Reardon of Jeffersonville said that since they are now "retired welders," they'll have plenty of opportunity to enjoy their favorite pastime, hunting.

The pair have purchased lottery tickets together for the past three years. On the day of the drawing, Fox intended to buy four Hoosier Lotto tickets, their usual game of choice. However, his plan changed when he got to the Circle K store in Clarksville and saw the eye-catching Powerball jackpot. In what would be a life-changing decision, he added two Powerball Quick Pick tickets to his two Hoosier Lotto plays.

The following day, he was checking the numbers online and saw that one of the Powerball tickets matched all six winning numbers. He checked the numbers again and was so shocked and breathless that his parents believed he was having a heart attack.

"They were getting ready to call 911. I was trying to breathe ... and the rest has been a whirlwind," he told Lottery officials.

When he called Reardon to share the big news, he met with disbelief. "I didn't trust him - until his mom got on the phone," said Reardon, who soon arrived in person and checked the ticket for himself: "I stood there and looked at it for about 10 minutes."

The reality has finally sunk in and the men are looking forward to their futures. "Our friends are going to have a good time, for sure," said Fox. He wants to move out of his parents' house and also buy them a new home. Also on his wishlist: a convertible for his mom and a truck for himself.

Reardon said he will get his wife Tiffany a Jeep Wrangler Black Ops and do some deer and turkey hunting in southern Indiana with his 11-year-old son. "I'm definitely going to buy me a lot of land so that I can hunt on it. And my little boy wants a dirt bike so he's going to get his new dirt bike," he said.

$190.9 million Powerball jackpot won by Regina Mandabach

Regina Mandabach of Washington, IN, shared this incredible Powerball prize on October 25, 2003 with a ticket purchased by a group of 15 school cooks and a janitor from Minnesota. Mandabach, 29, won on a Quick Pick ticket and took the lump sum payment of $49.7 million before taxes.

"Has it sunk in? No," she said as she claimed the prize at Hoosier Lottery headquarters. "My mind's not clear right now."

Mandabach said that her two children, age 9 and 10, have already requested a moped and a mountain bike, and she was planning a special Christmas.

"I will take care of my family. Now they will never have another worry," she told Lottery officials. "I'll worry about myself later. I always said if I won the lottery no one in my family would ever have to worry again."

Mandabach, a customer service representative, said she saw a story on TV about a winning ticket sold at the Shell Food Mart, where she'd purchased her ticket. After checking her numbers, "I ran to my parents' house and scared them because I pounded on the door," she recalled. "When they opened it, I was out of breath and my face was white. I finally got it out that I won Powerball."

Mandabach said she did not regularly purchase lottery tickets prior to her win. "Every now and then I'd buy them and of course I never won. So it was like well ain't I something. Well I really am something now."

Mandabach said she'll stay in Indiana, although she is looking at a vacation to Disney World. Before her win, money had been a concern, she said: "Of course. I'm a single mother."

She laughed that she had been "the biggest secret in Washington, Indiana, for the last couple days." The town of approximately 11,000 had been abuzz with the news of the mystery winner.

Her identity was finally revealed when she redeemed the winning ticket at Hoosier Lottery headquarters in Indianapolis. The winner and her family even had a police escort - Daviess County Sheriff Jerry Harbstreit drove the group. "I thought she needed some security," the Sheriff said. "She's carrying a pretty valuable piece of paper."