LotteryThese figures come from Powerball's own published record list, not from our internal results database — our real drawing history only goes back to October 2015, when Powerball's current 5-from-69-plus-Powerball matrix took effect (see the note on why in our trend chart). Where a record jackpot's date falls within that window, we cross-checked the winning numbers against our own database before publishing this list; that's noted for each entry below.
The Top Powerball Jackpots Ever Won
| Rank | Amount (annuity) | Cash value | Date | State(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2.04 billion | — | Nov. 7, 2022 | California |
| 2 | $1.817 billion | $834.9 million | Dec. 24, 2025 | Arkansas |
| 3 | $1.787 billion | — | Sept. 6, 2025 | Missouri, Texas (split) |
| 4 | $1.765 billion | — | Oct. 11, 2023 | California |
| 5 | $1.586 billion | — | Jan. 13, 2016 | California, Florida, Tennessee (split) |
Every date above links to our own drawing page, confirming the winning numbers listed there match what was publicly reported for that jackpot. The Nov. 7, 2022 record was originally missing from our backfilled history (likely due to that draw's unusual delayed-processing circumstances affecting how it was reported at the source); it's since been added and verified directly against Powerball's own results page.
The Record: $2.04 Billion
Powerball's largest jackpot ever — and the largest lottery prize in U.S. history at the time — was drawn on November 7, 2022, after the drawing itself was delayed several hours due to processing issues with the unprecedented volume of ticket sales. A single ticket sold at a gas station in the Los Angeles area matched all six numbers. This jackpot also marked the first time any U.S. lottery had crossed $2 billion.
The Most Recent Billion-Dollar Winner: Christmas Eve 2025
On December 24, 2025, a ticket sold at a gas station in Cabot, Arkansas matched all six numbers — 4, 25, 31, 52, 59, with Powerball number 19 — to win $1.817 billion, the second-largest U.S. lottery jackpot ever won. It capped a three-month stretch (46 consecutive drawings) without a jackpot winner. This was only the second time a Powerball jackpot had been won by a ticket sold in Arkansas; the first was in 2010.
Why These Jackpots Get So Large
Every one of the jackpots above followed the same basic pattern: a long streak of drawings with no jackpot winner, during which the prize pool kept rolling over and combining with new ticket sales. As the advertised number climbs into the hundreds of millions and then billions, media coverage draws in casual players who don't normally buy tickets, which increases sales further and accelerates growth — a self-reinforcing loop that's covered in more detail in how lottery jackpots grow and roll over. None of this changes the underlying odds of any single drawing, which stay fixed at 1 in 292,201,338 for the jackpot regardless of how large the prize has grown or how many drawings have passed since the last winner — see how lottery odds actually work for why a long losing streak doesn't make the next drawing any more likely to produce a winner.
The Takeaway
A jackpot's size is a record of how long a winless streak has run and how much attention it has attracted — not a signal about anything else. If you're weighing a real jackpot decision, our tax calculator and jackpot split calculator can help estimate what a prize like these would actually work out to after taxes or split among a group. Want a more visceral sense of just how large $2.04 billion actually is? See how big that jackpot really is in stacked $100 bills.