A Powerball ticket sold in Cabot, Arkansas, matched all six numbers in the Christmas Eve drawing to win a $1.817 billion jackpot, marking the second-largest U.S. lottery prize in history, reports Baltimore Chronicle. The winning numbers drawn on December 24 were 4, 25, 31, 52, 59 with Powerball 19. Two other tickets in Arkansas won smaller prizes, with one ticket in Little Rock claiming $100,000 and another in Rogers winning $50,000.
The jackpot winner can choose between a lump sum cash payout of $834.9 million or an annuitized prize distributed over approximately 30 years, both amounts before taxes. Under Arkansas law, the winner may remain anonymous for three years, except in the case of public officials or their close relatives, who must disclose their identity within six months.
Matt Strawn, Powerball product group chair and Iowa Lottery CEO, stated, “Congratulations to the newest Powerball jackpot winner! This is truly an extraordinary, life-changing prize. 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.”
This Christmas Eve prize is the second billion-dollar-plus jackpot of the year, following a $1.787 billion prize won in September by two tickets in Missouri and Texas, which stands as the third-largest U.S. lottery prize in history. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in over 292 million.
Tim Chartier, a professor of mathematics and computer science at Davidson College, explained that buying multiple tickets slightly increases chances but remains extremely unlikely. “Buying 100 tickets is like having just 100 guesses to guess one second in a nine-year span, so it’s still not terribly likely,” he said.
The next Powerball drawing will reset the jackpot to $20 million, and results can be viewed live on the Powerball website. Arkansas joins a list of states that have seen record Powerball winnings, including California, Missouri, Texas, Florida, Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts.
Earlier we wrote that Trump Announces “Total and Complete Blockade” of Sanctioned Venezuelan Oil Tankers.
