Anonymous winner sought financial and legal advice before claiming lifechanging wealth
By Kate Northrop
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Lottery announced today that the winner of the $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot has come forward to claim their lifechanging prize.
The Arkansas lottery player who held the only winning ticket in the nation for a $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot has officially been validated by the Arkansas Lottery as the true winner.
The winner opted to remain anonymous and chose to receive their prize as an $834.9 million cash option. According to USA Mega's Powerball Jackpot Analysis, they will walk away with approximately $493.47 million after all federal and state taxes are paid. Arkansas mandates a 3.9% state tax on lottery winnings.
They'll also get a temporary reprieve from the public eye since Arkansas state law allows winners of $500,000 or more to keep their name confidential, but they better hope that public interest in their identity wanes over time since those protections only last for three years. If they are an elected public official or a close relative of one, their identity will be released after six months.
Lottery Post maintains a state-by-state guide to anonymity laws across the USA and some other nations.
Whoever they are, they quietly claimed the gigantic prize while flying as low under the radar as they possibly could, having sought financial and legal advice before stepping forward to take on multi-generational wealth.
"Everyone was anxiously waiting for the winner to step forward, but we are happy they took the time to seek legal counsel and financial advice first, as we recommended," Arkansas Lottery Executive Director Sharon Strong said in a press release. "We are thrilled that the winner is from Arkansas!"
That one fateful Quick Pick ticket was purchased at a Murphy USA gas station at 208 South Rockwood Drive in Cabot and matched all six winning numbers in the Dec. 24, 2025 drawing: 4, 25, 31, 52, and 59, with red Powerball number 19. The Power Play number was 2.
"We're proud to celebrate this moment, not only for our Arkansas winner and for Murphy USA, the Arkansas-based company that sold the winning ticket, but also for the positive impact this historic jackpot will have on our state and our mission to raise funds for in-state scholarships."
According to the Lottery, this Powerball jackpot run alone generated $15.02 million in cash sales in Arkansas and earned retailers $768,267 in commissions. For selling the jackpot-winning ticket, Murphy USA will receive a $50,000 bonus.
And not only did this win mark the biggest lottery prize ever claimed in the state of Arkansas, but the $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot took the spot for the second-largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history with a record 47 consecutive drawings.
The number one spot for the largest lottery prize ever awarded still goes to the $2 billion Powerball jackpot prize awarded to California resident Edwin Castro.
This is the second time the Powerball jackpot has been won in Arkansas, with the first and only other win occurring in 2010.
Since last night's $209.3 million Powerball jackpot was won by a single ticket in North Carolina, the next Powerball annuity jackpot was reset to its starting amount of $20 million for the drawing on Saturday, Jan. 24.
Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.
Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.
Now we know it was a Quick Pick - too bad they can only stay anonymous for three years - congrats 👍🏻
Congrats and enjoy.
* it's possible that the winner will leave the State for greener pastures within a couple days or weeks.
With $493.47 million, your pastures automatically become greener 🤣
Congrats to the lucky winner.
You know I've been thinking lately ..... in your estimation considering all factors: MM $5 .... Tues/Fri vs PB $2 to $3 .... Mon Wed Sat how much of a lead in jackpot would MM need for PB NOT to eventually match and surpass that jackpot and go on to a "mega" like Castro/Cal?
I know I am not making my thoughts clear so let me put it this way: last night PB was 209 mil ..... and Fridays MM is 266 mil. For arguments sake let's say no one won pb last night .... and both jackpots rollover and over and over again ..... when would pb surpass mm on the road to a billion plus jackpot?
Have a shaggy day!
ShagE3
Now the Arkansas winner can fix their roof and do some traveling😉
Congratulations to the Lucky Winner 💰. All States should let the winners remain anonymous.
Or they just might become a member of Jackpot Winners Anonymous.
Congrats to them!!
Let's hope they picked trustworthy advisors.
Show of hands: Who besides me forgot all about this massive Arkansas win????
Congratulations to the winner
Congrats to the winner. Enjoy your newly acquired wealth for many years to come. Kudos to the state of Arkansas for choosing to authorize anonymity.
I did - when I saw the story headline I was like what jackpot was that - totally forgot about that.
To be fair, I also don't remember how much I spent on that run 🤣🤣
"For arguments sake let's say no one won pb last night .... and both jackpots rollover and over and over again ..... when would pb surpass mm on the road to a billion plus jackpot? "
Based on the recent runs that got big it would probably take about 7 weeks for PB to get bigger than MM, if they're about 210 and 270 at the same time. PB was at 207 on 10/06/25 and 5 weeks later it was at 490. MM was 277 on 8/29 and 5 weeks later it was 520. After 6 weeks they were at 570 and 575. After 7 weeks PB was 629 and MM was 625.
The current MM run has grown faster than the previous run (250 vs 198 for drawing #14). That's not necessarily an indication of what will happen for future runs, bu I suspect that more people will get used to the idea of paying $5 for the ticket so future runs will grow faster than the first couple did at $5.
Of course 210 and 270 are an arbitrary starting point, and who knows when thy might line up again? What really matters is what each one actually is at any given time, and while MM generally sells a minimum of 4 million tickets per drawing PB generally sells at least 8 or 9 million, when both are offering modest jackpots. If the question is when playing MM becomes a better choice than PB, that's strictly each player's own opinion. I'm unlikely to buy a MM ticket until the cash value is $600 million or so (a bit over 1.3 billion for the advertised annuity at current rates), but if PB is offering $400 million cash at the same time I'd play that instead. If PB got a bit past 2 billion and MM was bigger than I might play MM for the reduced chance of sharing a jackpot.