The reset is complete. The dream machine is operational again.

After some anonymous legend in Arkansas claimed the $1.817 billion Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve — the second-largest lottery prize in American history — tonight's drawing brings us back to earth with a $20 million starting jackpot.

And so the cycle begins anew.

The Quick Hit

• Tonight's jackpot: $20 million (cash option: ~$9 million)
• Drawing time: Saturday, December 27 at 10:59 PM ET
• What happened: The 47-drawing jackpot run ended Christmas Eve with an Arkansas winner
• The vibe: We're all starting over, chasing the next billion together

From Billions to Millions

Three days ago, the Powerball jackpot was $1.817 billion. Tonight, it's $20 million. That's a 99% drop, and yet millions of people will still buy tickets.

Because here's the thing about lottery degenerates: we don't play for what the jackpot is today. We play for what it could become.

That $20 million? Nobody cares about $20 million. But we're buying tickets anyway, because every jackpot run has to start somewhere. The Arkansas winner didn't wake up one day and decide to buy a ticket for $1.8 billion. They bought tickets for weeks, maybe months, through all the smaller jackpots that nobody remembers.

The journey of a billion-dollar jackpot begins with a single reset.

The Christmas Eve Miracle

For those who missed it: a single ticket sold at a Murphy USA gas station in Cabot, Arkansas, matched all six numbers Wednesday night. The winning combination was 4, 25, 31, 52, 59, with Powerball 19.

The winner has not been publicly identified, and Arkansas law allows jackpot winners over $500,000 to remain anonymous. Smart move. The last thing you want after becoming a billionaire is your extended family suddenly remembering you exist.

The jackpot had been building for 47 consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner — a Powerball record. For three months, the prize climbed past $1 billion, then $1.5 billion, and finally settled at $1.817 billion before someone in Arkansas ended the run.

What $20 Million Actually Means

Let's be real about the math.

The advertised $20 million is the annuity value, paid out over 29 years. If you take the lump sum — and almost everyone does — the cash option is roughly $9 million before taxes.

After federal taxes (37% top bracket) and state taxes (varies by state), you're looking at maybe $5-6 million in your pocket. Still life-changing money, but not exactly "buy a yacht and retire to Monaco" territory.

Of course, nobody plays Powerball for $20 million. We play because next week it might be $40 million. Then $80 million. Then $200 million. Then the headlines start, the lines get longer, and before you know it we're all watching the drawing together wondering if tonight is the night.

The Psychology of the Reset

There's something almost spiritual about the reset. The old jackpot is gone. The old winner has their billions. And now we're all back to zero, united in our shared delusion that we might be next.

The first few drawings after a reset always feel different. Quieter. More intimate. Only the true degenerates buy tickets when the jackpot is "only" $20 million. The casual players wait until it crosses $500 million before they remember the lottery exists.

But not us. We're here for the whole journey. Every drawing. Every ticket. Every two-dollar prayer to the variance gods.

When Will It Get Big Again?

Based on historical patterns, Powerball jackpots typically take 2-3 months to climb back into the hundreds of millions. If the Christmas Eve winner hadn't hit, we'd probably be looking at a $2 billion jackpot by now.

The next $1 billion jackpot? Probably sometime in early spring if we go on another long run. Maybe April. Maybe May. Depends on how many near-misses happen along the way.

Until then, we buy tickets. We check numbers. We dream.

The Bottom Line

Tonight's $20 million Powerball drawing is the first step in a journey that could end with someone else holding a billion-dollar ticket. The Arkansas winner just completed their journey. Ours continues.

The odds haven't changed. The probability of hitting all six numbers is still 1 in 292.2 million. The expected value of a ticket is still deeply negative. None of that matters.

Because somewhere out there, someone is going to buy a ticket tonight for $20 million, keep buying tickets through every drawing, and eventually cash a check that makes the Arkansas winner look like a warmup act.

That person could be you. It almost certainly won't be. But it could be.

And that's enough.