$1 billion Powerball jackpot has Houstonians dreaming big — here’s what experts say winners should do first

ROSENBERG, Texas – Someone could become a billionaire Wednesday night.

The Powerball jackpot for the Aug. 12 drawing has climbed to an estimated $1 billion, making it the eighth-largest jackpot in Powerball history and the largest U.S. lottery jackpot offered so far in 2026. The estimated one-time cash option is $433.1 million before federal taxes.

With that much money on the line, the question practically asks itself: What would you do with $1 billion?

At Lucky Rudy’s in Rosenberg on Wednesday, customers had plenty of answers — from taking a cruise to disappearing altogether.

“If I hit something tonight, first thing I’m hitting a cruise … bingo!” one customer said.

Another had a much shorter plan: “I’m going to disappear.”

Others said their first priority would be helping people.

“Oh, I just wanna be a blessing to everyone,” another customer said. “I don’t wanna be rich, I just wanna give back.”

The odds are long, but the dreams are big

Powerball players must match all five white balls plus the red Powerball to win the jackpot. The odds of doing that are 1 in 292,201,338.

The jackpot was last won on May 2, 2026, when two tickets sold in Texas and Florida split a $20 million jackpot.

Wednesday night’s estimated $1 billion prize now ranks as the eighth-largest Powerball jackpot in history.

Lump sum or payments over time?

Winning the jackpot would also bring an immediate financial decision.

A winner could choose to receive the advertised jackpot through an annuity paid over 30 years or select the one-time cash option. For Wednesday’s drawing, that cash value is estimated at $433.1 million before federal taxes.

Some customers at Lucky Rudy’s did not hesitate when asked which option they would choose.

“I would take the lump sum and I would go crazy,” one customer said.

“Give it to me now so I can give it away,” another said.

But Houston business attorney Tommy Holmes, founder of Holmes Law, PLLC, says “going crazy” with the money is exactly what a new winner should avoid.

Won the lottery? Don’t tell everybody just yet

Holmes said the first priority should be protecting the winning ticket itself.

His advice can be boiled down to five S’s:

Secure it. Stay silent. Slow down. Select your professionals. Strategize.

Holmes recommends keeping the news private, avoiding promises to friends or relatives, staying off social media and assembling a team that could include an attorney, financial adviser and tax professional before making major financial decisions.

“People with good hearts will get roped into feeling guilty,” Holmes said. “When you have 10 or 15 people, and a lot of them are close friends, going, ‘Man, you just won a billion dollars. Can’t you help out this cause I’ve been doing?’ And good people want to be like, ‘Well, I have it, yes.’ But you start committing to it, and now you’ve given it away,” he said.

Holmes said the same caution should apply to investments and charitable giving.

“You haven’t vetted that charity, you haven’t vetted that organization,” he said. “And it’s similar with investments, which is why attorneys and financial professionals are so important.”

What should a lottery winner do first?

Holmes recommends several steps before spending any significant amount of money:

• Protect the winning ticket

• Keep the news private

• Don’t make promises

• Stay off social media

• Slow down before making major purchases

• Hire legal, financial and tax professionals

• Create a long-term plan for the money

One customer at Lucky Rudy’s was already thinking along those lines.

“I would put it in a trust,” she said.

So, what could $1 billion buy in Houston?

The number is so large it can be difficult to put into perspective.

Using rough Houston-sized comparisons, $1 billion could theoretically pay for thousands of homes, tens of millions of meals or hundreds of millions of public-transit rides.

Of course, a jackpot winner would not actually receive the full advertised $1 billion in cash at once, and federal taxes would further reduce the amount available to spend.

Still, Wednesday’s drawing has plenty of people imagining what life might look like if six numbers suddenly went their way.

At Lucky Rudy’s, nearly everyone seemed to have a plan for the money.

Now they just need six very cooperative numbers.