North Carolinians, vying for the second largest Powerball jackpot ever, won big in Wednesday’s drawing with nine tickets winning $50,000, six Power Play tickets winning $200,000, and one lucky ticket winning $1 million.
The $1 million ticket matched all five white balls inWednesday’s drawing. It was sold at the Food Lion on East Wilson Avenue in Creedmoor in Granville County.
The Powerball jackpot climbed to $758.7 million as an annuity, or $480.5 million cash, before the drawing and was won by a single ticket sold in Massachusetts. It is the largest jackpot won by a single ticket for any lottery game in U.S. history.
“We are happy to see so many North Carolinians win big and their checks are waiting for them,” said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “This was also a big win for education in our state.”
Estimates are that Powerball ticket sales in North Carolina during the 21 drawings raised $19 million for education this year. That money will help the lottery raise more than half a billion dollars this year for its good cause.
Wednesday night’s winners have 180 days to claim their prize. In all, 257,229 tickets won prizes, ranging from $4 to $1 million and totaling $4.5 million. The winning numbers in the drawing were 6-7-16-23-26 and 4 for the Powerball.
Six tickets matched four white balls and the Powerball, winning a base prize of $50,000. But, because the buyers of those tickets added the $1 Power Play feature, the prize for each of those tickets quadrupled to $200,000 when the 4X multiplier was picked in the drawing. Those lucky tickets were sold at:
- Week’s Grocery, Barnes Street, Reidsville. (Rockingham County)
- Olde Brunswick Store No. 2, East Oak Island Drive, Oak Island (Brunswick County)
- M&M Mart, North Main Street, Marion (McDowell County)
- Food Lion, East Parrish Drive, Benson (Johnston County)
- Brite Mart, North Main Street, Goldston (Chatham County)
- Linwood Family Mart, Linwood Road, Kings Mountain (Cleveland County)
Nine other tickets matched four of the five white balls and the Powerball and won $50,000. Two of those tickets were sold at stores in Durham and the rest at stores in Emerald Isle, Indian Trail, Gibsonville, Winston-Salem, Lumberton, Raleigh, and Haw River.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million. Four North Carolina players have won Powerball jackpots in the past, winning $74.5 million to $188 million.
