A Missouri Lottery player in St. Charles gifted her family a Powerball ticket for the Dec. 17 drawing and couldn’t believe how close they came to hitting the jackpot.

“I texted pictures of the ticket to my family members and said, ‘This is our Christmas present. Let’s hope we do well!’’ she recalled, after claiming her prize at the Lottery’s St. Louis regional office in early January.

The ticket she purchased at Circle K, 3700 Elm St. in St. Charles, matched four of the five white-ball numbers, as well as the Powerball number, to win $50,000. Had it matched all five of the white-ball numbers, plus the Powerball, they would have won a $1.25 billion jackpot.

“We were one number away from the big one!” she laughed, noting the family is splitting the prize and everyone was thrilled with the outcome.

“Everybody’s pretty happy with me!” she added.

The winning numbers on Dec. 17 were 25, 33, 53, 62 and 66, and the Powerball number was 17. 

In FY25, players in St. Charles County won more than $72.5 million in Missouri Lottery prizes, retailers received more than $6.1 million in commissions and bonuses, and more than $13.7 million in Lottery proceeds went to education programs in the county.