RALEIGH - The saying goes: “See a penny, pick it up and all day long you’ll have good luck.” For Thomas LaBelle of Raleigh, that saying came true this morning after he found a penny and decided to buy a lottery ticket.
LaBelle says he was walking into the Circle K on New Bern Avenue in Raleigh to buy his morning coffee when he saw a penny on the ground. He picked it up and decided to buy a “Cash Blast” instant scratch-off ticket. As he scratched off the ticket with his newfound penny, he saw that the ticket was worth the top prize of $125,000!
La Belle still had the lucky penny in his pocket when he claimed his prize at North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) headquarters, and says he plans to keep it. He says he will use the prize money to support his daughters, one of who just moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.
In last night’s Powerball drawing, Power Playing paid off for one ticket holder. A ticket sold at Three Brothers on Broad Street in Rural Hall matched all five white balls and is worth $800,000! This is second $800,000 Powerball winner for North Carolina in the last week. One Power Played ticket matched all five white balls in the Saturday, June 14, drawing and has yet to be claimed. This ticket was sold at Kangaroo Express #3205 on Hickory Tree Road in Winston-Salem.
The usual payout for this combination is $200,000, but the ticket was Power Played to have the chance to multiply any non-jackpot prize. The Power Play wheel landed on 4 last night, which increased the $200,000 prize to $800,000. In order to Power Play, the player pays $1 extra for their ticket.
Another ticket in last night’s drawing matched four out of five white balls and the Powerball and is worth $10,000. This ticket was sold at Compare Foods on Summit Avenue in Greensboro.
A total of 32,276 North Carolina Powerball players won prizes in the Wednesday, June 18, drawing, ranging from $800,000 down to $3 for a total payout in prizes worth $1,109,433. No one matched all five white balls and the Powerball to win the jackpot, so the Powerball jackpot for the Saturday, June 21, Powerball drawing is $53 million.
The North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) has paid out more than $3.7 million total in instant scratch-off ticket prizes since Monday, June 16. Also since Monday, “Carolina Cash 5” players have won more than $100,000 and “Carolina Pick 3” players have won more than $793,000 in prizes.
