Merry Christmas to one specific person in Arkansas, and honestly, to all of us who get to live vicariously through their insane luck.

A single ticket sold in Arkansas matched all six numbers in Wednesday night's Powerball drawing, claiming the $1.817 BILLION jackpot. That's billion with a B. That's "fuck you money" multiplied by a thousand. That's generational wealth for your entire bloodline until the heat death of the universe.

The Quick Hit

• What happened: One ticket in Arkansas won the $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve
• The damage: Second-largest lottery jackpot in U.S. history. Cash option is $834.9 million (before Uncle Sam takes his cut)
• Why you should care: Because hope is real and sometimes the universe just picks someone
• The winning numbers: 4, 25, 31, 52, 59 and Powerball 19

The End of a Historic Run

This was the 47th consecutive drawing without a grand prize winner — a record for the longest jackpot run in Powerball history. For three months, degenerates across America threw their money at increasingly astronomical odds, watching that number climb past a billion, then past 1.5 billion, then all the way to nearly two billion dollars.

And on Christmas Eve, someone in Arkansas ended it all.

The last time someone won a Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve was 2011. The last time a winning ticket was sold in Arkansas was 2010. This anonymous hero basically hit a once-in-a-decade parlay just by buying a lottery ticket.

Let's Talk Numbers, You Degenerates

The winner has two choices:

Option A: The Annuity Take $1.817 billion paid out over 30 years. One payment now, then 29 annual payments that increase 5% each year. This is the "I trust myself not to blow it all" option.

Option B: The Cash Lump Sum Take $834.9 million right now. After federal taxes (37%) and Arkansas state taxes (4.4%), you're looking at roughly $480-500 million in your pocket. This is the "give me my money because I might die tomorrow" option.

Most winners take the cash. Because when you've just beaten 1-in-292-million odds, you're not exactly thinking long-term.

The Supporting Cast

While one person walked away with everything, plenty of other tickets hit smaller prizes:

• 8 tickets matched all five white balls for $1 million each
• 31 tickets won $100,000 (matching four white balls plus the Powerball with Power Play)
• 114 tickets won $50,000

That's millions of dollars distributed across the country on Christmas Eve. Santa came through for a lot of people, just not equally.

What Happens Now

The Powerball jackpot resets to $20 million for the next drawing on Saturday. After months of billion-dollar dreams, we're back to peasant numbers. But that's okay. Someone has to start the next run.

As for the Arkansas winner, they're probably sitting in stunned silence right now, staring at their ticket, wondering if this is real. The answer is yes. It's real. You're a billionaire. Well, almost — you still have to claim the prize and survive the inevitable circus that comes with it.

The Bottom Line

One person in Arkansas just had their entire life change because they spent $2 on a piece of paper with numbers on it. They beat odds of 1 in 292.2 million on Christmas Eve, claimed the second-largest jackpot in American lottery history, and became proof that sometimes, against all logic and probability, the universe just decides it's your turn.

To the rest of us who didn't win: the jackpot resets Saturday. Hope springs eternal. And hey, at least someone out there is having the best Christmas of all time. That has to count for something, right?

Congratulations, you magnificent anonymous bastard. Don't blow it all on scratchers.