Arkansas Stays Hot In Powerball, $251 Million Jackpot Hit Monday Night

Someone is going hog wild in Razorback country at the moment, as a lottery player in Arkansas bought a Powerball ticket for Monday night’s drawing worth $251 million.

The winner numbers were 2, 17, 18, 38, and 62, with a red Powerball of 20, and a ticket sold in Arkansas matched all six balls, scoring the largest draw lottery jackpot of 2026 thus far. The winner can choose either the $251 million annuity or take the prize as $118 million in a single pre-tax cash distribution.

As of press time, neither Powerball nor the Arkansas Lottery had provided specifics on where in the state the winning ticket was sold.

This was the second Powerball jackpot claimed so far this year. On Jan. 21, a ticket sold in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, won a $209.3 million jackpot, and the winner came forward less than a week later to claim their prize, opting to take the $95.3 million lump-sum payment.

Just a month before that, the second largest U.S. lottery prize of all-time went to a player in Arkansas, who hit a $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve. That player stepped forward to claim the prize anonymously in January, also electing to take the cash payment — in this case, $834.9 million before taxes.

There were 16 rollovers between the North Carolina win in January and Monday’s hit in Arkansas. An estimated 8.9 million tickets were sold for Monday’s drawing — including one in Puerto Rico that matched everything but the red Powerball and secured the lucky customer $2 million (thanks to the Power Play multiplier) before taxes.

Mega nears a milestone

As the Powerball grand prize resets to $20 million, attention shifts to Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing, which offers an estimated jackpot of $473 million (cash option: $221.8 million).

Since a $90 million win in New Jersey on Dec. 2, there have now been 25 straight Mega Millions drawings without a winner.

At the rate at which the jackpot is increasing, if nobody takes down the top prize Tuesday night, the jackpot is likely to cross $500 million for Friday’s drawing.

In the most recent Mega Millions drawing last Friday, the winning numbers were 11, 18, 39, 43, 67, and gold Mega Ball 23, and an estimated 6.9 million tickets were sold.

Tickets for Mega Millions cost $5 and Powerball tickets cost $2. Most states offer the multiplier option for Powerball, which impacts any prize won, except the jackpot, for an additional $1. Mega Millions comes with an automatic multiplier for any prize except the jackpot.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions are legal in all states except Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. Tickets for both draw games are also sold in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In Puerto Rico, customers can buy tickets for Powerball, but not for Mega Millions.

All-time biggest jackpots

Here is a list of the all-time top 10 U.S. lottery jackpots:

1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $1.82 billion, Powerball, Dec. 24, 2025, won in Arkansas
3. $1.79 billion, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025, won in Missouri and Texas
4. $1.76 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
5. $1.6 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
6. $1.59 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
7. $1.54 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
8. $1.35 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine
9. $1.34 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
10. $1.33 billion, Powerball, April 6, 2024, won in Oregon

Here is the all-time top 10 by lump-sum cash value:

1. $997.6 million, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022, won in California
2. $983.5 million, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016, won in California, Florida, and Tennessee
3. $877.8 million, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018, won in South Carolina
4. $834.9 million, Powerball, Dec. 24, 2025, won in Arkansas
5. $820.6 million, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025, won in Missouri and Texas
6. $794.2 million, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023, won in Florida
7. $780.5 million, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022, won in Illinois
8. $776.6 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 22, 2021, won in Michigan
9. $774.1 million, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023, won in California
10. $723.5 million, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023, won in Maine