It was a Green Christmas for Powerball players across the country! Nationwide, five tickets won prizes worth $1 million or more in the Christmas drawing. The winning numbers in the Dec. 25 Powerball drawing were white balls 5, 12, 20, 24, 29 and red Powerball 4.
Participating lotteries are reminding players to check their tickets for one of the nine ways to win. The Powerball drawing on Christmas night produced more than a million winning tickets across the country, including three tickets (CA, NH, PA) that matched all five white balls to win $1 million prizes. Note: In California, prize payout amounts are pari-mutuel and determined by sales and the number of winners.
Two tickets, sold in Colorado and Georgia, matched all five white balls and increased the $1 million prize to $2 million by including the prize multiplier feature, Power Play®, for an additional $1 per play. There were also 45 tickets that won $50,000 prizes, and 16 tickets that won $100,000 prizes.
The Powerball jackpot evaded players Monday night and rolled to an estimated $685 million for the next drawing on Wednesday night. The jackpot has an estimated cash value of $344.7 million.
This is the fourth Powerball jackpot to exceed half a billion dollars this calendar year. The Powerball jackpot was previously won on Oct. 11 when a ticket in California won a $1.765 billion grand prize. Since then, there have been 32 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner.
If a player wins the jackpot in Wednesday’s drawing, they will have the choice between an annuitized prize worth an estimated $685 million or a lump sum payment estimated at $344.7 million. Both prize options are before taxes. If the winner selects the annuity option, they will receive one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5-percent each year.
Powerball tickets are $2 per play. Tickets are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds from the sale of a Powerball ticket remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold. Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. EST from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. Powerball drawings are also live streamed on Powerball.com.
The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
2023 Powerball Jackpots
- Feb. 6, 2023 - $754.6 million - WA
- March 4, 2023 - $162.2 million - VA
- April 19, 2023 - $252.6 million - OH
- July 19, 2023 - $1.08 billion - CA
- Oct. 11, 2023 - $1.765 billion - CA
Top 10 Powerball Jackpots
- $2.04 Billion – Nov. 7, 2022 – CA
- $1.765 Billion – Oct. 11, 2023 - CA
- $1.586 Billion – Jan. 13, 2016 – CA, FL, TN
- $1.08 Billion – July 19, 2023 – CA
- $768.4 Million – March 27, 2019 – WI
- $758.7 Million – Aug. 23, 2017 – MA
- $754.6 Million – Feb. 6, 2023 - WA
- $731.1 Million – Jan. 20, 2021 – MD
- $699.8 Million – Oct. 4, 2021 – CA
- $687.8 Million – Oct. 27, 2018 – IA, NY