Powerball ticket holder wins $1.82B jackpot — second-largest prize in lottery history
- - Powerball ticket holder wins $1.82B jackpot — second-largest prize in lottery history
Nicholas McEntyreDecember 25, 2025 at 12:47 AM
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An image collage containing 1 images, Image 1 shows A Powerball player won the large jackpot last night
Deck the halls with Benjamins!
A Powerball player in Arkansas won the $1.82 billion jackpot winning ticket on Wednesday night, the second-largest jackpot in lotto history.
The winning numbers for the Christmas Eve drawing were 4, 25, 31, 52, 59 and the Powerball 19.
The lucky winner can choose between the $1.82 billion prize paid out over 29 years or the one-time lump sum of $834.9 million.
A Powerball player in Arkansas won the historic $1.82 billion jackpot during Wednesday’s drawing. dennizn – stock.adobe.com
The drawing was initially marketed at $1.7 billion, but the pot was raised to the new life-changing figure after final ticket sales were tallied.
It is the second time the Powerball grand prize has been won on Christmas Eve; the first was in 2011, when an anonymous ticket holder cashed in on the $128.8 million payout in Maryland.
“Congratulations to the newest Powerball jackpot winner! This is truly an extraordinary, life-changing prize,” Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO Matt Strawn said. “We also want to thank all the players who joined in this jackpot streak – every ticket purchased helps support public programs and services across the country.”
The Natural State has produced only one other Powerball jackpot winner – a $25 million prize won on Jan. 2, 2010.
The player chose to remain anonymous and picked the $12.15 million cash option.
Arkansas Lottery players who win a prize worth $500,000 or more are allowed to remain anonymous for three years.
The Powerball jackpot was last won on Sept. 6, when two players shared the $1.78 billion prize.
The two winners, hailing from Missouri and Texas, each had the option of taking an annuitized prize of $895 million paid out over 29 years, or a one-time lump sum of $410.3 million.
The two players, who remained anonymous due to state laws, both chose the $410.3 million cash option.
Eight lottery players won $1 million for matching all five white balls, including two from New York – at a Delaware County convenience store in Sidney, and another on Long Island at the Montauk Highway Gas Corp in Lindenhurst.
The odds of matching all six Powerball numbers are a mere 1 in 292,201,338.
Wednesday’s outlandish grand prize is only smaller than the game’s largest jackpot of $2.04 billion, won by Edwin Castro in California back in November 2022.
The Powerball grand prize was reset to $20 million for Saturday’s drawing.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
