Winning $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot tickets sold in Missouri and Texas

Powerball players in Missouri and Texas won the estimated $1.8 billion jackpot on Saturday, overcoming astronomical odds to end the lottery game's three-month drought without a big winner.

The winning numbers were 11, 23, 44, 61, and 62, with the Powerball number being 17.

In addition to the jackpot winners, two people won the Match 5 + Power Play, winning $2 million by matching all five white balls drawn but not the red Powerball, plus also paying an extra $1 for the Power Play option. Those tickets were sold in Kansas and Texas.

A whopping 18 people won $1 million in the Match 5 by matching all five white-ball numbers drawn, but not the red Powerball number.

The prize, which was the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot in history, followed 41 consecutive drawings in which no one matched all six numbers. The last drawing with a jackpot winner happened May 31.

Powerball's terrible odds of 1 in 292.2 million are designed to generate big jackpots, with prizes growing as they roll over when no one wins. Lottery officials note that the odds are far better for the game's many smaller prizes. There are three drawings each week.

The estimated $1.8 billion jackpot would go to a winner who opts to receive 30 payments over 29 years through an annuity. Winners almost always choose the game's cash option, which for Saturday night's drawing would be an estimated $826.4 million.

Powerball tickets cost $2, and the game is offered in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Lotteries have a long history of public disclosure

It wasn't always this way. For centuries, public disclosure of those with winning tickets was an essential part of ensuring people could trust lotteries.

Lotteries in America date to the 1700s, when governments, like now, used them to raise money. Jonathan D. Cohen, the author of "For a Dollar and a Dream: State Lotteries in Modern America," said they were born out of a "distinctly American desire for government services without paying taxes for them."

Early on, they were more like raffles. Winners would be announced at fairs with ticket holders in the audience.

In the 1980s, in some states, Cohen said, people would buy tickets to jackpot games with in-person drawings. About 20 people would stand on stage and one would win. Their emotional personal stories helped fuel the popularity of lotteries.

"Here's this housewife, here's this orphan," Cohen said. "The person who wins the lottery is sitting right there and, of course, immediately starts weeping."

The big multi-state lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions, which roll over prize money when no one wins and generate ever-larger jackpots, disrupted that approach, he said. It reduced the human element but allowed for bigger prizes.

Nine states allow all lottery winners to remain completely anonymous for all lotteries. Ten states allow lottery winners to remain anonymous for wins above a certain amount, ranging from $10,000 in Minnesota to $10 million in Virginia.

In some states where there is no anonymity for individual winners, people can still claim prizes anonymously through private trusts.

Attorney Mark K. Harder claimed the $842.4 million jackpot on behalf of a Michigan couple in 2024.

In addition to the security concerns, Harder said the couple wanted to be perceived "the way they had always been perceived."

Harder said the family also hired a public relations team to vet their social media profiles to make sure they didn't unintentionally give anything away.

At least one winner has regretted hitting the jackpot

In one well-known case, Andrew "Jack" Whittaker Jr. of West Virginia became an instant celebrity in 2002 when he won a lump sum of $113.4 million after taxes. It was the largest U.S. lottery jackpot won by a single ticket to date.

But he quickly fell victim to scandals, lawsuits and personal setbacks, later saying he wished he had torn up the ticket. He died in 2020.

Cohen said such well-publicized instances are outliers. The vast majority of winners are healthier and wealthier than non-winners, he said.

States, meanwhile, have an interest in disclosing the names to thwart fraud and to boost trust, he said.

"You don't want the lottery director's nephew to win every jackpot and just claim it anonymously and nobody knows who it is," Cohen said.

He noted that states have mechanisms to prevent such subterfuge, like requiring that names of winners be disclosed to their lottery commissions.

The winner of the largest jackpot so far bought his ticket in California, which requires disclosure. Edwin Castro released a written statement after he claimed a 2022 jackpot worth $2.04 billion but declined to speak to reporters.

Last year, a Laotian immigrant and cancer survivor who won a $1.3 billion Powerball jackpot bucked recent trends at a press conference where he hoisted a huge check above his head. Shultz said those stories, along with his own, have value.

"I think it could be really positive, if they want to inspire other people," he said.