Christmas came early for someone who purchased a Powerball ticket at a gas station outside Little Rock, Ark., and it’s worth $1.8 billion. The lone winner matched all five winning numbers and the Powerball to capture the second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history, ending the game's 3-month stretch without a top prize winner. The winning ticket was sold at a Murphy USA gas station in Cabot, a suburb northeast of Little Rock. Because the gas station is located near a major interstate, it’s possible the lottery winner was from out of town. In Arkansas, lottery winners have 180 days to claim their prize. Under Arkansas law, lottery winners of prizes more than $500,000 can request that their identity remain confidential for up to three years, after which the information can be made public. However, if the winner is an elected official or a close relative, those records remain confidential for only six months. Lottery proceeds are subject to state income tax in Arkansas, where the top rate is 3.9%. If the winner selects the lump sum cash payment option of $834.9 million, they would owe the state of Arkansas more than $32 million. With Powerball’s odds of winning a mere 1 in 292 million, whoever won is one lucky person.
