An Arkansas Powerball player won a $1.817 billion jackpot in the drawing held on Wednesday, Christmas Eve, ending a three-month stretch of the lottery game in which no top prize winner was named.
The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with the Powerball number being 19.
According to www.powerball.com, final ticket sales increased the jackpot by more than previously expected, making it the second-largest in U.S. history and the largest Powerball prize of 2025. The jackpot included a lump sum cash payment option of $834.9 million.
“Congratulations to the new Powerball jackpot winner! This is truly an extraordinary, life-changing prize,” Matt Strawn, chairman of the Powerball Product Group and CEO of the Iowa Lottery, was quoted by the website. “We would also like to thank all the players who joined this jackpot streak – every ticket purchased helps support public programs and services across the country.”
A Powerball player wins $1.817 billion.
Santa had a huge Christmas present in his sleigh on Christmas Eve. Only one winning ticket was sold for the Powerball’s $1.817 billion jackpot — in Arkansas. It was the second largest lottery jackpot ever won in America. The lump sum cash value of the grand prize was $834.9 million.
The game says the Powerball jackpot was won once on Christmas Eve in 2011 and four times on Christmas Day. Powerball began in 1992. The last Powerball jackpot was won on September 6 in Missouri and Texas, when two tickets split the top prize of $1.787 billion.
This prize was awarded after 46 consecutive drawings in which none of the six numbers matched. The last drawing with a jackpot winner took place on September 6, when players from Missouri and Texas won $1.787 billion.
Organizers said this is the second time a Powerball jackpot has been won through a ticket sold in Arkansas. The first time this happened was in 2010. Powerball said the last time someone won the Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve was in 2011. The company added that the sweepstakes has been won four times on Christmas Day, most recently in 2013.
Powerball’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate a large jackpot, with prizes increasing when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are very good for many of the game’s smaller prizes.
“With such a high prize, I just kind of made an impulse purchase. Why not?” Indianapolis glass artist Chris Winters said Wednesday. Tickets cost $2, and the game is available in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Powerball said this was only the second time in the game’s history that two consecutive winning jackpots exceeded $1 billion. In 2022, a ticket sold in Altadena, California, won a jackpot of $2.04 billion, the largest jackpot in Powerball and lottery history. Wednesday’s drawing was the 47th in that jackpot run, which is the record for the most draws in a Powerball jackpot cycle, the game says.
To win a gold medal, the ticket must match all five white balls and the red Powerball drawn during the draw. Single winners of the top prize can choose between a lump sum payment or payment by an annuity of one immediate payment, followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each time. Both the lump sum and the annuity amount are pre-tax.
According to Powerball, the odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The size of lottery jackpots has increased over the last decade, while the odds of winning have decreased.
Tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The draw takes place every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 11pm ET.