ATLANTA - A single winning ticket sold in Arkansas claimed Powerball’s massive $1.817 billion jackpot in Wednesday night’s Christmas Eve drawing, marking the second-largest lottery prize ever won in the United States.
Lottery officials said the winning numbers were 4, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with a Powerball of 19. The jackpot carries a lump-sum cash value of $834.9 million before taxes. The winner may choose between the lump-sum option or an annuity paid over 30 years, starting with one immediate payment followed by annual payments that increase by 5 percent each year.
While the top prize was sold out of state, Georgia still saw multiple big winners. Three tickets worth $50,000 each were sold in Georgia, matching four white balls and the Powerball. State lottery officials have not yet released the locations where those tickets were purchased.
The Christmas Eve win was the first time the Powerball jackpot had been claimed since Sept. 6, when two tickets sold in Missouri and Texas split a $1.787 billion prize. It also marked only the second time in the game’s history that back-to-back jackpots exceeded $1 billion.
Wednesday’s drawing was the 47th in the current jackpot run, setting a Powerball record for the most drawings in a single jackpot cycle. The only larger jackpot in U.S. lottery history was a $2.04 billion Powerball prize won by a single ticket sold in Altadena, California, in 2022.
Powerball officials note the odds of winning the jackpot remain 1 in 292.2 million. While jackpots have grown dramatically over the past decade, the odds of hitting the top prize have become increasingly slim.