The financial numbers behind many of the biggest lottery wins in history make for some eye-watering reading. They are the types of sizeable values that have changed lives overnight and made people super rich.

On the home front, the United Kingdom’s biggest ever lottery winner won a hefty £184 million relatively recently. It happened in the first half of 2022, when couple Joe and Jess Thwaites’ huge sum outdid the previous record of £170 million by a cool £14 million.

“I looked it up and saw we’d won. I saw how much and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t go back to sleep,” said Mr Thwaites at the time.

“I didn’t want to wake Jess up, so I just laid there for what seemed like forever. I spent some time searching for property with no budget limit, which was a novelty.”

Ms Thwaite added: “The win gives us time to dream, which we haven’t had before. We’ve had one week to think about this and we now have time to share lots of experiences and go on adventures with our family and friends.

“Our two children have always talked about going to Hawaii, I’ve no idea why, but we can now make that dream come true.”

The biggest ever jackpot won, in any country, came via the US Powerball in early 2016. The main prize amounted to a whopping $1.586 billion (£1.325 billion) with an after-tax cash value of $983.5 million (£820.4 million). It was spilt between three people in Tennessee, California and Florida, with each winning taking home $327.8 million (£273.7 million). This was the first time in history a lottery jackpot had surpassed the $1 billion (£834 million) threshold. Fortunately for UK lotto enthusiasts, there’s the opportunity to win the Powerball jackpot at Lottoland online, by betting on the outcome of the lottery.

The US Powerball made world headlines again in March 2019, when Manuel Franco won $768 million (£641.6 million). Franco, from Wisconsin, was 24 years old at the time of his major win. He is one of the youngest US Powerball winners ever.

As far back as 2012, the US Mega Millions draw produced a jackpot win of $656 million (£548 million), with a cash value of $474 (£395.5 million). In March 2012, the $656 million jackpot was shared between Illinois, Kansas and Maryland, with a cash value of $158 million (£132 million) per ticket. Only 11 states in the US allow winners to remain anonymous but if you bet on Powerball or MegaMillions with Lottoland you can choose to remain anonymous.

Also in 2012, but this time in the US Powerball, the $587.5 million (£490.1 million) main prize (cash value $384.7 million - £321 million) was shared by one person in Arizona and another in Missouri. Cindy and Mark Hill, from Missouri, chose the cash pay out on their jackpot share. They cashed in $192 million (£160 million) per ticket. They donated plenty of money to local causes and bought land for a wastewater treatment centre. They also funded a new firefighting truck and ambulance. "They are giving back to the community, just like they said they would," said Camden Point mayor Kevin Boydston of the Hills, who were affectionately nicknamed "the Hillionaires".

Those are just a few of the feelgood stories that have done the rounds in the wake of big lotteries around the world.