Christmas Miracle: Arkansas Ticket Hits $1.8B Powerball Prize

A Christmas Eve miracle turned one Arkansas lottery ticket into a life-changing moment. Forget Santa — this year’s biggest gift came straight from the Powerball drawing ??.

The lucky winner matched all six numbers — 4, 25, 31, 52, 59, plus Powerball 19 — locking in a jaw-dropping $1.8 billion jackpot. Christmas will definitely never feel the same again.

Why this win is such a big deal

• The odds of hitting the Powerball jackpot? 1 in 292 million

• The prize ballooned after 46 straight drawings with no winner

• It became the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history

Powerball is played across most of the U.S., including 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Players choose five numbers from 1–69 and one Powerball from 1–26 — simple rules, massive stakes.

How the money gets paid

The winner won’t receive the full amount in one lump by default. There are two choices:

• 30-year payout plan for the full jackpot

• One-time cash option of $834.9 million, before taxes

Big, but not the biggest ever

As massive as this win is, it doesn’t top the record. That honor still belongs to a $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot won in California in November 2022.