Economist reveals the first moves lottery winners should make
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 claim 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 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 US HISTORY
A single Powerball ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six winning numbers Wednesday night to claim the $847 million jackpot. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images / Getty Images)
"Back-to-back jackpot runs resulting in prizes of this magnitude are a testament to the excitement Powerball generates," said Stephen Durrell, chair of the Powerball Product Group and executive director of the Kansas Lottery.
"We're thrilled to celebrate another life-changing win and congratulate the lucky ticket holder," Durrell added.
The winner can choose between an annuitized 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 annually.
Both prize options are before taxes.
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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 has not identified the winner or disclosed where in New Jersey the ticket was sold. New Jersey law allows lottery winners to remain anonymous.
Additionally, Powerball announced that four other tickets matched all 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 Nov. 7, 2022, when a ticket sold in California claimed a $2.04 billion Powerball prize. A $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot won on Christmas Eve in 2025 ranks as the second-largest prize in U.S. lottery history.
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The $847 million Powerball jackpot was won Wednesday after 35 consecutive drawings without a grand prize 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.
