Staff Report. January 6, 2012. RALEIGH – This week brought five big winners from across the state, including a $1 million winner in Wayne County and two players from Orange and Franklin counties who split a $425,108 Carolina Cash 5 jackpot. Scratch-off tickets paid off in a big way to a nursing assistant from Gaston County who won $150,000 and a homemaker from Winston-Salem who claimed a $100,000 prize playing the Wheel of Fortune game.

• Richard Daveler, a maintenance supervisor from Pikeville in Wayne County, calls himself a pretty lucky lottery player. This was proven to be true on Tuesday as he became the biggest instant scratch-off winner in Wayne County history by revealing a $1 million prize on his Cash Spectacular ticket. “I scratched off the first one and it was a thousand bucks,” Daveler said. “The cashier thought I was joking. Then I scratched the big one and he really thought I was messing with him.”
• Evelyn Perry, a retired social worker from Hillsborough in Orange County, plans to pay bills and share with her adult children after winning $212,554 playing Carolina Cash 5. Perry won half the jackpot in the New Year’s Eve drawing.
• “I had no idea I had won,” Perry said. “The next day when I bought a scratch-off at the store, the clerk asked if I was the Cash 5 winner. When I went home and checked my numbers online, I was just stunned.”
• Shenita Massey, a nursing assistant from Mount Holly in Gaston County, plans to help pay for college for her children and her niece after winning $150,000 playing the $150 Grand game. “Keep the faith, keep believing,” Massey said as she received her winnings. “It really can happen.”
• A retired construction worker had one of two lucky tickets for the New Year's Eve Cash 5 jackpot, but he says the real luck of his life has been his wife of 60 years and their children. “I play every day, but I don’t play but $1 a day,” Tabron said. “I think it is a good thing to support education and maybe even win some money.”
• Bhavinaben Rajeshbhai Patel, a homemaker from Winston-Salem, is the latest player to claim the $100,000 top prize in the Wheel of Fortune game. Patel said she plans to use a portion of her winnings, worth $68,001 after taxes, to donate to charity. She purchased her winning ticket at the In N Out Convenience Store on South Broad Street in Winston-Salem. As of Friday morning, one more $100,000 top prize remains to be claimed in the game.

Game Report

Mega Millions: The jackpot for tonight’s drawing is $25 million if taken as an annuity or $18.3 million as a lump sum. In the Friday, Dec. 30 drawing, a total of 9,983 tickets paid out $71,820 in prizes ranging from $2 to $600. In the Tuesday, Jan 3 drawing, players won 10,064 prizes ranging from $2 to $300 for a total payout of $55,553.

Powerball: In the Saturday, Dec. 31 drawing, a total of 25,529 tickets paid out $204,267 in prizes ranging from $3 to $400. In the Wednesday, Jan. 4 drawing, players won 20,454 prizes ranging from $3 to $40,000 for a total payout of $208,405. Because no ticket matched all six numbers, the jackpot for the Saturday, Jan. 7 drawing is an estimated $44 million if taken as an annuity or $27.9 million as a lump sum.

Since Friday, Dec. 30, players have collected more than $13 million in instant scratch-off ticket prizes. Carolina Pick 3 players have won more than $2.1 million. Carolina Pick 4 players have won more than $677,000 including 37 top prizes of $5,000. Carolina Cash 5 players have won more than $849,000.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.11 billion for the state and education initiatives it serves. Net proceeds are used for prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, reduction of class size in early grades, school construction and need-based college scholarships and financial aid. For prizes of $5,000 and greater, 25% federal tax and 7% state tax are automatically withheld.

Comments: