$842 Million Powerball Ticket Won in Historic New Year’s Day Drawing

After a surge of last-minute ticket sales pushed the Powerball jackpot to $842.4 million, a ticketholder in Michigan has won the grand prize in a historic New Year's Day draw.

Monday's jackpot is the fifth-largest ever won in the game's history and the 10th-largest ever in the U.S. Plus, it's the first time a Powerball jackpot has been won on New Year's Day since the game got its start in 1992, according to the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball.

The winning ticket was sold at the Food Castle in Grand Blanc, just south of Flint, according to the Michigan Lottery. The winning numbers were 12-21-42-44-49, and the Powerball was 01.

The owner of the winning ticket has not yet contacted the Michigan Lottery to claim their prize. Once they do so, they'll have to pick one of two options to take their winnings: accept a one-time lump-sum payment of $425.2 million, or take the full $842.4 million jackpot in annual payments spread out over three decades.

After federal taxes are accounted for, a winner who takes the lump-sum payment will take home about $267.9 million, according to calculations by usamega.com.

Michigan will also withhold 4.25% of the total winnings in state taxes. If the winner takes the lump-sum payment, the state will take $18 million off the top, compared to $1.19 million if the winner takes their winnings in annual payments.

Although not everyone could win the jackpot, several other ticket holders snagged grand prizes on Monday. Four tickets, sold in California, Connecticut, Florida and Maryland, won $1 million prizes. Two other tickets, sold in Florida and Texas, won $2 million through the game's Power Play feature.

A North Carolina woman on Sunday became $1 million richer after winning a live Powerball drawing held as part of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest."

This is the fourth Powerball jackpot to exceed half a billion dollars over the past year. The last major jackpot was won on Oct. 11, with a winning ticket in California of $1.76 billion — the second-largest U.S. lottery prize ever won. The largest in history was $2.04 billion in November 2022.

Mega Millions, the U.S.'s other large lottery operator, has awarded five prizes of over $1 billion since it launched in 2002, including a $1.6 billion jackpot won on Aug. 8.