Check out the luckiest states in the lottery
USA TODAY’s Fernando Cervantes takes a look at the states with the most Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots.
The identity of the anonymous winner of Powerball’s second-biggest jackpot has been made public, and it came as a bit of a surprise.
Tracy Hartwick, the younger brother of North Little Rock, Arkansas Mayor Terry Hartwick, won a $1.8 billion jackpot with numbers drawn on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2025, local news outlets Kirk and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.
Tracy Hartwick won 94% of the jackpot prize. Another brother, Timothy A. Hartwick, received 3% of the winnings, and an anonymous third person received the remaining 3%, local news station THV11 reported.
A Powerball news release said the jackpot was claimed almost a month after it was won. Mr. Hartwick chose to remain anonymous when accepting his winnings, choosing to receive a one-time pre-tax payment of $834.9 million in cash.
THV11 reports that while winners can choose to remain anonymous for up to three years, Hartwick was informed that he could only reveal the secret of his victory for six months because his brother is an elected official.
USA TODAY has reached out to the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery and Mayor Hartwick’s office for comment.
Why couldn’t Mr. Hartwick remain anonymous?
According to Arkansas law, the winner’s brother could not remain anonymous for more than six months because he is an elected official.
Law No. 889 of 2021 stipulates that elected officials and their families can only remain anonymous for six months after claiming their lottery winnings. However, members of the public can remain anonymous for three years after winning the lottery.
According to the law, the identities of politicians who win lottery tickets and their families who are “relatives within the second degree” will be known after six months. Family members include parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren.
Christmas Eve Powerball jackpot is second largest
After 47 consecutive drawings, the Powerball jackpot has reached a whopping $1.817 billion ahead of the 2025 Christmas Eve drawing. Lottery participants bought tickets in droves in hopes of winning a huge jackpot.
The winning ticket was sold at a Murphy USA gas station in Cabot, Arkansas, about 25 miles northeast of Little Rock, Powerball reported. The store received a $50,000 commission for selling the winning ticket.
In Arkansas, where the tickets were sold, people spent more than $15 million on Powerball tickets through the jackpot cycle.
According to Powerball, this jackpot is not only the second-largest jackpot in Powerball history, but also the second-largest jackpot in U.S. history. The ticket that won the largest Powerball jackpot of $2 billion was sold on November 7, 2022 to Edwin Castro of Altadena, California.
Julia Gomez is a trends reporter for USA TODAY, covering space phenomena, scientific research and natural disasters. Connect with her on LinkedIn ×Instagram, TikTok: @juliamariegz or email jgomez@gannett.com..
