A Publix grocery store in Florida has sold two record-breaking lottery tickets, including a Powerball jackpot worth over $1 billion on December 13, 2025. The last billion-dollar lottery drawing was won on September 6, 2025, when a pair of tickets from Texas and Missouri split a $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot.
Publix where shopping is a pleasure. The iconic catchphrase for the Florida-based grocery chain rang true for not one but two record-winning lottery winners here. And now that Powerball shot past the 1 billion jackpot mark for Saturday Dec. 13 people may be buying up more lottery tickets while shopping for groceries. The record-setting Powerball lottery jackpot comes ahead of Hanukkah and Christmas. Could a 2 Powerball lottery ticket make someone a multimillionaire? As they say in the lottery business it could happen to you. The last billion-dollar lottery drawing was won Sept. 6 2025 when a pair of tickets from Texas and Missouri split the 1.8 billion Powerball jackpot. That draw produced several second-tier winners including a ticket-holder in Florida. The Saturday Dec. 13 2025 Powerball drawing marks the 14th time in history that a Mega Millions or Powerball lottery jackpot reached or surpassed 1 billion. Only once in history did a grand prize reach 2 billion claimed by Edwin Castro of Altadena California. Florida has seen billion-dollar lottery jackpot wins and interestingly those winning tickets came from a Florida grocery store. On Jan. 13 2016 MelbourneBeach was trending on social media and on Aug. 8 2023 so was NeptuneBeach both thanks to a local Publix. In 2016 David Kaltschmidt and Maureen Smith of Melbourne Beach claimed their share of what was then the largest Powerball jackpot in the history of the game 1.586 billion. Then in August 2023 a winner from Neptune Beach matched all five numbers plus the Mega Ball to win the biggest jackpot in the history of Mega Millions 1.58 billion. Is it a little crazy or interestingly coincidental to think that of the 14 times a lottery jackpot has hit 1 billion or more that two of the winning tickets were purchased at a beachtown Publix in Florida and the prize was at least 1.58 billion? Read on to find out more similarities and differences of this strange yet fascinating lottery coincidence. Powerball made history Jan. 11 2016 the first time a lottery jackpot hit 1 billion. After no one matched all five numbers plus the Powerball in the (Saturday) Jan. 9 2016 drawing for 949 million the Monday jackpot soared to 1.4 billion. (No one won that drawing either.) Powerball made history again when three tickets matched all six numbers to win 1.586 billion in the (Wednesday) Jan. 13 2016 drawing. The jackpot started Nov. 4 2015 at 40 million. It had rolled over almost 30 times from Nov. 4 2015 to Jan. 13 2016 before three tickets from California Tennessee and Melbourne Beach Florida claimed the 1.586 billion grand prize. In 2016 FLORIDA TODAY reported Maureen Smith and David Kaltschmidt bought their winning Powerball ticket at a Publix in Melbourne Beach. The store received a 100 000 commission from the Florida Lottery for selling one of the billion-dollar tickets. As of Dec. 13 2025 the1.586 billion Powerball prize is still in the Top 10 largest lottery jackpots of all-time. Sandwiched between Indialantic and Sebastian Melbourne Beach is a small town that's part of Florida's Space Coast. Publix 3830 S. SR A1A Melbourne Beach is in the Driftwood Plaza. After months of rollovers on Aug. 8 2023 someone was lucky enough to buy a 2 Mega Millions ticket worth 1.58 billion from a Publix in Neptune Beach Florida. On Sept. 25 2023 the winner Saltines Holdings LLC of Miami Florida claimed the prize. Like its sister store in Melbourne Beach the Neptune Beach Publix also received a 100 000 bonus commission. As of Dec. 13 2025 more than two years since the Neptune Beach Publix win the1.586 billion Powerball prize remains on the list of Top 10 largest lottery jackpots of all-time and the biggest Mega Millions lottery jackpot in the history of the game. The billion-dollar Mega Millions winner is truly lucky. If the person had bought their ticket just about 250 feet away at the Publix next door in the Seminole Shoppes plaza the day after the lottery drawing would've been 1.58 billion less exciting. The newer Publix next door was previously a Luckys Market. After closing its doors in 2020 and sitting empty until 2023 it was surprisingly turned into a Publix store only about 250 feet away from Neptune Beachs original Publix store. Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper