HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Texas’ largest lottery payout of 2022 totaled $20 million and went to a Rio Grande Valley resident.
The Harlingen winner claimed the prize Sept. 16 after purchasing a winning scratch-off ticket–the highest prize in that particular game.
But 2022’s luck was spread out across the state, with winners hauling in millions from a slew of cities. Of course, none of the biggest winners chose to reveal their identities when making their claims.
Based on information obtained by ValleyCentral from the Texas Lottery Commission, these were the top payouts claimed this year:
1 Harlingen: $20 million; scratch-off game
2 Highland Village: $12,660,841.60; Lotto Texas
3 Katy: $11,992,501.82; Lotto Texas
4 Pearland: $11,938,006.94; Lotto Texas
5 Pasadena: $6,889,118.29; Lotto Texas
6 Haltom City: $5,026,433.26; Lotto Texas
7-TIED Gilmer: $5 million; scratch-off game
7-TIED Austin: $5 million; scratch-off game
7-TIED Kingwood: $5 million; scratch-off game
7-TIED Aransas Pass: $5 million; scratch-off game
7-TIED Batson: $5 million; scratch-off game
7-TIED Lancaster: $5 million; scratch-off game
8 Arlington: $4,632,166.56; Lotto Texas
9-TIED Brownsville: $3 million; Mega Millions
9-TIED McHenry: $3 million; Mega Millions
9-TIED Laredo: $3 million; scratch-off game
9-TIED San Antonio: $3 million; scratch-off game
9-TIED Tyler: $3 million; scratch-off game
9-TIED Winters: $3 million; scratch-off game
10-TIED Fort Worth: $2 million; Mega Millions
10-TIED San Antonio: $2 million; Powerball
10-TIED Spring: $2 million; Powerball
10-TIED New Braunfels: $2 million; scratch-off game
10-TIED Mount Calm: $2 million; scratch-off game
10-TIED Manor: $2 million; Powerball
10-TIED Whitesboro: $2 million; Mega Millions
10-TIED San Angelo: $2 million; scratch-off game
Based on the top 10 payout amounts of 2022, which style of game provided the best payouts? It’s complicated.
The biggest payout happened to belong to a scratch-off game, but the next five-highest payouts were dominated by draw-style lottery games. Regardless, the potential for winning much, much, much more happened several times over the year for the draw-style games. A $2.04 billion jackpot claimed in California smashed the Powerball record.
So if you want to dream, maybe draw-style games provide a little bit more of a what-if factor to drive hope upward.
But scratch tickets actually paid out well when compared to Texas’s top claims. Scratch-off winners in the top-10 above, which includes tying amounts, totaled about $68 million compared to $69 million for draw-style claims.
Pretty even.
Examining the averages for the top payouts muddies the waters even more.
Among the top 10 overall payouts (listed above), scratch-off games had median winnings of $4 million against median payouts of $3 million for draw-style games. The mean winnings, however, give the edge to draw-style games, which had an average payout of about $5.3 million compared to the scratch-offs’ $4.6 million.
Perhaps, it really all just comes down to luck — and how lucky you are — regardless of what game you choose to play.
