Arkansas player claims $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve

In a thrilling holiday turn, a Powerball player in Arkansas, US, won a staggering $1.817 billion jackpot in the Christmas Eve drawing, ending a three-month streak without a top-prize winner.

The win marks the second-largest lottery prize in US history and the biggest Powerball prize of 2025, NPR reports.

The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52, and 59, with the Powerball number 19. Final ticket sales pushed the jackpot higher than expected, giving the winner the option of a lump-sum cash payment of $834.9 million. 

The jackpot followed 46 consecutive drawings in which no player matched all six numbers. The last Powerball jackpot winner was on September 6, when players in Missouri and Texas split a $1.787 billion prize. Arkansas has now produced a Powerball jackpot winner for the second time, with the first occurring in 2010.

Powerball has a notable holiday history: NPR notes that a jackpot was last claimed on Christmas Eve in 2011, and the sweepstakes has been won on Christmas Day four times, most recently in 2013. The game’s odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate massive jackpots, though smaller prizes remain far more attainable.

Some players purchase tickets on a whim when prizes skyrocket. “With the prize so high, I just bought one kind of impulsively. Why not?” said Indianapolis glass artist Chris Winters on Wednesday. Tickets cost $2 each and are offered in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

By Jeyhun Aghazada