Economist Jeffery Degner shares the first steps lottery winners should take to protect their privacy, manage their winnings, and avoid costly mistakes.
A ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six winning numbers in Wednesday’s Powerball drawing to win the $847 million jackpot.
The grand prize has an estimated cash value of $363.1 million and is the ninth largest Powerball jackpot ever won, according to Powerball.
The white balls drawn on Wednesday were 15, 34, 41, 53 and 56. The red Powerball was 21 and the Power Play multiplier was 2X.
Wednesday’s jackpot comes less than three months after a winning ticket was sold in Illinois in August for a $1.040 billion jackpot, the eighth-largest prize in Powerball history.
Single Powerball ticket sold in Illinois wins $1.04 billion jackpot, eighth largest in U.S. history
A single Powerball ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six winning numbers Wednesday night to win the $847 million jackpot. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Consecutive jackpots resulting in prizes of this magnitude are a testament to the excitement generated by Powerball,” said Stephen Durrell, president of the Powerball Product Group and executive director of the Kansas Lottery.
“We are delighted to celebrate another life-changing victory and congratulate the lucky ticket holder,” added Durrell.
The winner can choose between an annuity prize of $847 million or a lump sum payment of $363.1 million. Under the annuity option, the winner would receive 30 payments over 29 years, with the payments increasing each year.
Both pricing options are before taxes.
ARKANSAS WINNER CLAIMS $1.8B POWERBALL JACKPOT, CHOOSES CASH OPTION
A Powerball ticket sold in New Jersey won the game’s ninth-largest jackpot, worth an estimated $847 million. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Powerball did not identify the winner or reveal where the ticket was sold in New Jersey. New Jersey law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous.
Additionally, Powerball announced that four more tickets matched the five white balls to win secondary prizes.
The winning ticket ended a streak of 35 consecutive drawings without a jackpot winner.
The largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was won on November 7, 2022, when a ticket sold in California claimed a Powerball prize of $2.04 billion. The $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot won on Christmas Eve in 2025 is the second-largest prize in U.S. lottery history.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
The $847 million Powerball jackpot was won Wednesday after 35 consecutive drawings without a big winner. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The jackpot will now reset to $20 million for the next drawing on Saturday.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million.
Gn bussni
