An Arkansas lottery player won a $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot Wednesday, just after the Christmas holiday, ending a three-month stretch without a top-prize winner in the multistate game.
The winning numbers were 04, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with the Powerball number 19.
The prize was the fourth-largest U.S. lottery jackpot on record and followed 46 consecutive drawings without a winner matching all six numbers. The previous jackpot was won Sept. 6, when tickets sold in Missouri and Texas split a $1.787 billion prize.
The last time a Powerball jackpot was won on Christmas Eve was in 2011, the lottery said. Powerball has also been won on Christmas Day four times, most recently in 2013.
Powerball’s odds of winning the jackpot are about 1 in 292.2 million, a structure designed to allow prizes to grow as drawings roll over. Lottery officials note that players have significantly better odds of winning smaller prizes.
The estimated $1.7 billion jackpot would be paid through an annuity of 30 payments over 29 years. Winners, however, almost always choose the cash option, which for Wednesday night’s drawing was estimated at $735.3 million before taxes.
Powerball tickets cost $2. The game is played in 45 states, as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.