RALEIGH - A $1 investment turned into $200,000 for Debbie Williams of Walkertown. Her Powerball ticket for the May 31 drawing matched all five white balls to win the top non-jackpot prize.
Williams says she didn’t know her ticket was a winner until a week later when she stopped at a gas station and went inside to have the ticket scanned. After realizing how much her ticket was worth, she ran back outside to her car, yelling “Yeah!!!!!!”
Williams says she plans to use her winnings towards buying a house. She purchased her winning ticket at Robinhood Tobacco on Robinhood Road in Winston-Salem.
Dinah Ellerbee of Apex had only planned to stop and get some Chinese food take-out for dinner, but on a whim decided to go across the street to buy a lottery ticket, too. She bought one “Platinum Payout” instant scratch-off ticket because it’s one of the new games, she said. The game was launched May 28.
Ellerbee went home, ate her dinner, and forgot about the ticket for about two hours, she said. She won’t forget the excitement she felt after retrieving the ticket from her car and scratching it off, though. It revealed the top prize of $100,000!
Ellerbee is the first “Platinum Payout” top prize winner. She bought her winning ticket at Hilltop Foodmart on North Main Street in Fuquay-Varina. Ellerbee plans to use her winnings to “pay bills and bless people.” She also plans to take a trip with her sister.
Five tickets in last night’s Powerball drawing matched four out of five white balls plus the Powerball and are worth $10,000 each. These tickets were sold at Mr. G’s Convenience Mart on Iona Street in Fairmont, Quality Mart on Old U.S. Highway 1 South in Southern Pines, Scotchman #142 on Morganton Road in Fayetteville, Gordon’s General Store on Johnsontown Road in Thomasville, and Beach Grove Fuel Market on Washington Post Road in New Bern.
A total of 29,601 North Carolina Powerball players won prizes in the Wednesday, June 11, drawing, ranging from $10,000 down to $3 for a total payout in prizes worth $393,706. No one matched all five white balls and the Powerball to win the jackpot, so the Powerball jackpot for the Saturday, June 14, Powerball drawing is $33 million.
The North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) has paid out more than $3.6 million total in instant scratch-off ticket prizes since Monday, June 9. Also since Monday, “Carolina Cash 5” players have won more than $112,000 and “Carolina Pick 3” players have won more than $714,000 in prizes.
