Breaking News Reporter
5:00 AM on Dec 27, 2023 CST
With no one winning the gift of a Powerball jackpot on Christmas, one lucky player could win the prize, which has now climbed to an estimated $685 million for Wednesday’s drawing.
Only three Powerball jackpots have been won on Christmas. The most recent was in 2013 when a player in Missouri won a $71.5 million jackpot, according to Powerball.
The current jackpot has an estimated cash value of $344.7 million, and there have been 32 consecutive drawings without a winner. It is the Powerball’s fourth jackpot to exceed half a billion dollars this year.
There have been some major national lottery jackpots in 2023.
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Between the Mega Millions and Powerball, there were a collective five jackpots that broke into each respective games’ top-10 records. The Mega Millions had its largest prize at $1.602 billion and third-largest at $1.348 billion. While the Powerball had its second-, fourth-, and seventh-largest prizes, totaling $1.765 billion, $1.08 billion, and $754.6 million, respectively.
While none of those jackpot winners hailed from the Lone Star State, some playing in North Texas still padded their wallets with smaller wins.
To name a few in recent memory: A lottery ticket worth up to $17 million was sold at a 7-Eleven in Far North Dallas, a Weatherford resident won an estimated annuitized $8 million on a Quick Pick ticket, a Mesquite resident claimed a $1 million prize off a scratch ticket, a Frisco resident splurged $20 on a scratch ticket that ended up being a $1 million winner, and a Dallas resident bought a ticket at a Players Cafe in Austin that netted them $1 million.
So the odds may be long on winning a record-setting national jackpot lottery prize. But there’s still a chance that, if you play, you could win.
What would you do next, though? And how would you accept your payout?
One of the first decisions a lottery winner likely makes is how to accept the prize. One option is to accept the prize as a lump-sum payment. That results in a smaller but immediate payout. The other option, an annuity payout, is paid out in multiple installments over several years that typically totals a larger overall amount.
There are a few things you should consider before making a decision between payouts:
Other advice experts have given to lottery winners includes:
Staff writer Aria Jones contributed to this article.
Lana Ferguson, Breaking News Reporter. Lana Ferguson joined The Dallas Morning News after reporting in South Carolina's Lowcountry for The Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette newspapers. She graduated from the University of Mississippi where she studied journalism and Southern studies. She's a Virginia native but her work has taken her all over the U.S., southern Africa, and Sri Lanka.
lana.ferguson@dallasnews.com /LanaFergusonJournalist @thelanabanana