These are the winning numbers for Powerball’s $1.8 billion Christmas Eve jackpot
Santa Claus could win an estimated $1.817 billion jackpot in the Christmas Eve Powerball drawing.
The winning numbers from Wednesday evening’s draw — the fourth largest jackpot in the history of Powerball and the American lottery, they are 4, 25, 31, 52, 59, with a Powerball of 19. The jackpot has an estimated lump sum value of $781.3 million before taxes.
We still didn’t know if there was a winning ticket.
Wednesday’s drawing is the 47th in the current series of jackpots, a record for the most in a Powerball jackpot cycle, the game says. If no ticket is a winner, the prize will climb even higher for Saturday night’s drawing. The last time a Powerball jackpot was won was on September 6 in Missouri and Texas, when two tickets shared a prize. First prize of $1.787 billion.
The Powerball jackpot has only been won once on Christmas Eve, in 2011, and four times on Christmas Day, the game says. Powerball began in 1992.
To win the jackpot, a ticket must match all five white balls and the red Powerball drawn in a drawing. Only one jackpot winner have a choice a lump sum payment or a payment via an annuity which would consist of an immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments which increase by 5% each year. Both the lump sum cash estimate and the annuity estimate are before taxes.
It’s only the second time in the game’s history that consecutive jackpots have topped $1 billion, Powerball said.
In 2022, a single ticket sold in Altadena, California won a $2.04 billion jackpot, the largest in Powerball and lottery history. The first Powerball drawing dates from 1992.
THE chances of winning the grand prize are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball. Lottery jackpots have exploded over the past decade, as the odds of winning have become even slimmer.
In 2015, Powerball increased the number of white balls in the game from 59 to 69 and decreased the number of red balls from 35 to 26. Before this change, the odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 175.2 million.
Tickets cost $2 each and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings take place every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 11 p.m. ET.
