RALEIGH - A Canton man started shaking when he realized he had scratched off the $1 million prize on his recently purchased “$100 Million Cash Spectacular” ticket. Ronald Cochran bought the ticket at the Jiffy Shop on Walnut Street in Waynesville and took it home to scratch it off. He had won $1,000 a few weeks earlier on the game and hoped for another win.
Cochran says he’d like to use some of his winnings to take a cruise to Alaska and buy his daughter a new car. He is the North Carolina Education Lottery’s (NCEL) eighth $1 million winner. He has received his first annuity payment of $50,000 minus taxes and will receive payments every May for the next 19 years.
Other $1 million prizes have been claimed by winners in Farmville, Pfafftown, Charlotte, Burlington, Holly Springs, Graham and Bullock. There are two more $1 million prizes available in the “$100 Million Cash Spectacular” game along with tens of thousands of other prizes.
Steve Strickland of Maxton likes to play the NCEL’s online games. For the May 20 “Carolina Cash 5” drawing, he picked five numbers for his ticket that corresponded to family members’ birthdates. Those numbers turned out to be lucky ones—all five matched the five white balls drawn. His ticket was worth $134,385!
Strickland says he will use the money to build a house. He purchased his ticket at the Scotland Stop N Shop on South Main Street in Laurinburg.
In last night’s Powerball drawing, there were eight big winners in North Carolina. One ticket matched all five white balls and was Power Played. Since the Power Play number for last night’s drawing was 4, the normal $200,000 prize was increased to $800,000! This ticket was sold at Wilco #110 on South Main Street in Winston-Salem.
One ticket matched four out of five white balls plus the Powerball and was Power Played, increasing the $10,000 prize to $40,000. This ticket was sold at Wilco #325 on Ward Boulevard in Wilson.
Six other tickets matched four out of five white balls plus the Powerball but were not Power Played. Each ticket is worth $10,000. These tickets were sold at Latham Quick Market Inc. on Cridland Road in Greensboro, Lowes Food #188 on Guilford College Road in Jamestown, Main Street Mini Mart on North Main Street in Holly Springs, Food Lion #723 on Highway 64 West in Knightdale, Kwik Stop 2 on Main Street in Ellenboro, and Buy & Go #5 on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh.
A total of 35,727 North Carolina Powerball players won prizes in Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, ranging from $800,000 down to $3 for a total payout in prizes worth $1,244,215. No one matched all five white balls and the Powerball to win the jackpot, so the jackpot amount for the Saturday, May 24, Powerball drawing is $20 million.
The NCEL has paid out more than $5.1 million total in instant scratch-off ticket prizes since Monday, May 19. Also since Thursday, “Carolina Cash 5” players have won more than $272,000 and “Carolina Pick 3” players have won more than $585,000 in prizes.
