Someone in Arkansas Is Having a Powerball Christmas

UPDATE Dec 25, 2025 5:01 AM CST

Santa came to Arkansas in a big way this year: Somebody in the state won Wednesday's Powerball drawing worth $1.817 billion, reports the AP. That amounts to a lump-sum payout of nearly $835 million should the winner opt for that route. The total is the second-biggest in US history. The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52, and 59, with the Powerball number being 19. Arkansas allows winners to remain anonymous for three years, but their names are made public after that, per KNWA.

Dec 22, 2025 7:59 AM CST

It could be a very merry Christmas week for one lottery player. The Powerball jackpot has swelled to an estimated $1.6 billion for Monday night's drawing, ranking among the largest lottery prizes ever offered in the United States. No one hit all six numbers in Saturday's drawing—4, 5, 28, 52, 69 and the red Powerball 20—which pushed the prize higher, though Forbes notes eight people did manage to win the second-biggest prize of $1 million by matching all five numbers on the white balls but missing the red Powerball number.

Powerball says the pot now represents the fourth-largest jackpot in the game's history and the fifth-largest US jackpot overall, reports CNBC. The all-time US record remains a $2.04 billion Powerball prize claimed in California in 2022; that winner chose a lump sum of about $997.6 million.

For Monday's drawing, the winner will face a familiar choice: take the cash up front or spread it out. The lump-sum option is currently estimated at $735.3 million before taxes. Powerball tickets are sold in 45 states plus Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. As for your shot at the prize: the odds of matching every number are 1 in 292.2 million.