[gpt3]
You are Samantha Carter, Chief Editor of Newsy-Today.com.
Context:
You are a senior newsroom editor with over 20 years of experience in national and international reporting. Your writing is authoritative, clear, and human. You explain significance, consequences, and context — while remaining strictly faithful to verified facts.
Your task:
Rewrite and transform the content provided in
Sorry, unless you got your ticket in Arkansas, you didn’t win the Powerball jackpot. But $1 million isn’t a bad consolation prize.
Two New Yorkers took home those million-dollar second-prize tickets in Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing. One was sold on Long Island, at Montauk Highway Gas Corp on West Montauk Highway. The other was sold at Smiley’s Stop and Shop on West Main Street in Delaware County’s village of Sidney.
Plenty of third-prize tickets were sold in the Empire State, too (8). See the full list from NY lotto.
Just one lucky ticket holder hit the jackpot in Wednesday night’s Christmas Eve drawing, matching all five white balls and the red power ball. The winning numbers were: 4, 25, 31, 52, and 59, along with the red Powerball 19.
According to the official Powerball website, the jackpot reached an estimated $1.817 billion after final ticket sales. That makes it the second-largest in lottery history and the largest Powerball prize awarded this year.
The U.S. has seen more than a dozen lottery jackpot prizes exceed $1 billion since 2016. Here is a look at the largest U.S. jackpots won and the places where the winning tickets were sold:
1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Los Angeles-area gas station.
2. $1.817 billion, Powerball, Dec. 24, 2025: The winning ticket was sold in Arkansas.
3. $1.787 billion, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025. The winning tickets were sold in Missouri and Texas.
4. $1.765 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in a tiny California mountain town.
5. $1.602 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a supermarket in Neptune Beach, Florida.
6. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016. The winning tickets were sold at a Los Angeles-area convenience store, a Florida supermarket and a Tennessee grocery store.
7. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018. The winning ticket was sold at a South Carolina convenience store.
8. $1.348 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a Maine gas station.
9. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Chicago-area gas station.
10. $1.326 billion, Powerball, April 7, 2024. The winning ticket was sold at an Oregon convenience store.
into a fully original NEWS ARTICLE for the News category on Newsy-Today.com.
Your article must address:
• What happened (based strictly on the source)
• Why it matters (context, implications, and significance derived from the source)
• What may happen next (scenario-based analysis only, never new facts)
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NON-NEGOTIABLE FACT RULES
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• Use ONLY facts, names, places, quotes, and numbers explicitly present in
Sorry, unless you got your ticket in Arkansas, you didn’t win the Powerball jackpot. But $1 million isn’t a bad consolation prize.
Two New Yorkers took home those million-dollar second-prize tickets in Wednesday night’s Powerball drawing. One was sold on Long Island, at Montauk Highway Gas Corp on West Montauk Highway. The other was sold at Smiley’s Stop and Shop on West Main Street in Delaware County’s village of Sidney.
Plenty of third-prize tickets were sold in the Empire State, too (8). See the full list from NY lotto.
Just one lucky ticket holder hit the jackpot in Wednesday night’s Christmas Eve drawing, matching all five white balls and the red power ball. The winning numbers were: 4, 25, 31, 52, and 59, along with the red Powerball 19.
According to the official Powerball website, the jackpot reached an estimated $1.817 billion after final ticket sales. That makes it the second-largest in lottery history and the largest Powerball prize awarded this year.
The U.S. has seen more than a dozen lottery jackpot prizes exceed $1 billion since 2016. Here is a look at the largest U.S. jackpots won and the places where the winning tickets were sold:
1. $2.04 billion, Powerball, Nov. 7, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Los Angeles-area gas station.
2. $1.817 billion, Powerball, Dec. 24, 2025: The winning ticket was sold in Arkansas.
3. $1.787 billion, Powerball, Sept. 6, 2025. The winning tickets were sold in Missouri and Texas.
4. $1.765 billion, Powerball, Oct. 11, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a liquor store in a tiny California mountain town.
5. $1.602 billion, Mega Millions, Aug. 8, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a supermarket in Neptune Beach, Florida.
6. $1.586 billion, Powerball, Jan. 13, 2016. The winning tickets were sold at a Los Angeles-area convenience store, a Florida supermarket and a Tennessee grocery store.
7. $1.537 billion, Mega Millions, Oct. 23, 2018. The winning ticket was sold at a South Carolina convenience store.
8. $1.348 billion, Mega Millions, Jan. 13, 2023. The winning ticket was sold at a Maine gas station.
9. $1.337 billion, Mega Millions, July 29, 2022. The winning ticket was sold at a Chicago-area gas station.
10. $1.326 billion, Powerball, April 7, 2024. The winning ticket was sold at an Oregon convenience store.
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• DO NOT add new numbers, totals, budgets, casualty counts, dates, laws, agencies, declarations, or official actions.
• DO NOT add new quotes.
• DO NOT attribute actions or decisions to institutions unless they appear in the source.
• Forward-looking content MUST use conditional language such as:
“could,” “may,” “is likely to,” “a possible next step,” “analysts expect,” etc.
• Never present speculation as established fact.
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HTML & STRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS
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• Output ONLY a clean, standalone HTML content block.
• Wrap everything inside:
• Allowed HTML tags ONLY:
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