The $1.8 Billion Question in Arkansas: Who Won the Powerball Jackpot?

More than a day after Arkansas lottery officials announced that someone had purchased the winning Powerball ticket, worth a whopping $1.817 billion, in the small city of Cabot, the mystery remained as to who could be the winner at the gas station off Highway 67 where it was sold.

The single ticket that matched all six numbers in Wednesday night’s Christmas Eve drawing, scoring the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever, was from that suburb of Little Rock, the lottery officials said. It was sold at a Murphy USA gas station there, they said.

The jackpot run had stretched to a record 47 drawings, the state lottery said.

The gas station, which is surrounded by big-box stores, was quiet early on Friday morning in the city of about 27,000, about 26 miles north of Little Rock. A few customers were filling up their pickup trucks and purchasing snacks and lottery scratch-off tickets. In the window, a screen advertised the next Powerball jackpot — a mere $20 million.

A few camera crews from national and local media were stationed outside, searching for any clues in the place where someone hit the odds of 1 in 292.2 million.

Gene Breaux, 60, of Cabot, who was at the station on Friday, said he purchases lottery tickets there about twice a week. He also purchased one for the $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot this week, but said he didn’t win.

He was surprised that the winning ticket was sold there: “It’s pretty neat,” he said.

He also said it would be “cool” if the winner were someone from Cabot.

“I’d just be rooting for somebody that might be able to use it to help others and themselves,” Mr. Breaux said. “That’s what I told the wife; I said, ‘Well, I sure hope it’s not some rich doctor.’”

Workers at the gas station on Friday said they had no comment.

This is the second time a Powerball jackpot has been won in Arkansas, lottery officials said.

Sharon Strong, executive director of the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, which oversees the distribution of scholarships raised from lottery funds in the state, said that her team was “so excited” that the winning ticket was sold in the state. “It’s such a great thing for our state as a whole,” she said.

For the winner, Ms. Strong said, “Their lives are going to be changed.”

“What a great Christmas present,” she added.

The lottery’s office reopens after the holiday on Monday, Dec. 29, at 8 a.m. Central time. State law allows winners of more than $500,000 to remain anonymous, but their identity becomes public after three years, Ms. Strong said.

The winner can choose between the full $1.817 billion paid out over 30 years or a $834.9 million cash option, both before taxes.

“I encourage whoever that lucky winner is to discuss with their attorney and their financial adviser before coming to us on how they want to structure their payout and their winnings,” Ms. Strong said.

The gas station where the ticket was sold will also get a payout of $50,000, Ms. Strong said. Plus, she said, the revenue from lottery tickets sold over the past month, “while this jackpot has been rolling,” will go directly to scholarships for Arkansas students. Exactly how much was sold won’t be available until January, she said.

The Powerball winning numbers were the white balls 4, 25, 31, 52, 59 and the red Powerball was 19, officials said.

Nationwide, eight tickets came close to winning the jackpot with all five white balls matching, lottery officials said. Those winners were one each in California, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, with 2 in New York; each will get a cash prize of $1 million, except for California, where the prize is determined by sales and the number of winners, the Arkansas lottery said.

Huge lottery jackpots have become increasingly common in recent years as Powerball and Mega Millions have changed their rules and raised ticket prices. Since 2016, more than a dozen U.S. jackpots have topped $1 billion, including three in 2024 alone.

The largest jackpot on record remains a $2.04 billion Powerball prize won in California in 2022.

Mr. Breaux said he plans to buy some Arkansas Scholarship Lottery tickets this weekend, but not the Powerball, which will reset to the lower prize. “Not that $20 million isn’t a good amount,” he said.

Hannah Ziegler contributed reporting.