RALEIGH – Terry Stout, an employment consultant from Greensboro, said he plans to use the $1 million he won playing the new Powerball game to pay bills, save for the future and give his family some peace of mind.

Stout matched all five white balls but not the red Powerball in the May 9 drawing. He was at home when he checked his numbers on the lottery’s website. After taxes, Stout took home a check for $680,000.

“This is a real blessing,” Stout said. “This money really gives us peace of mind. We can take care of a lot of things with this money, but we’re going to be smart about it and not rush into anything.”

Stout is one of five players to win $1 million playing the new Powerball game that started in earlier this year. He and four others beat odds of 1 in 5.1 million to match all five white balls in drawings since January 15.

One of the changes to the Powerball game was that ticket prices went up from $1 to $2 each for a standard ticket. Power Play ticket prices rose to $3 each.

“To be honest, I wasn’t happy about the tickets going to $2,” Stout said. “But if they hadn’t I would have only won $200,000. Now I think the $2 tickets are great.”

Stout purchased his winning ticket at the Circle K on New Garden Road in Greensboro.

Before coming forward, Stout decided to verify his winning ticket at the lottery’s Greensboro office. Afterwards, he decided to speak to a lawyer and prepare himself for the $1 million windfall. After a week of preparation, Stout came to the lottery headquarters in Raleigh to collect his winnings. As he went through the claims process, he said that he appreciated NCEL’s efforts both as a player and as a winner.

“What I really like about the lottery is that you can really tell what a professional organization it truly is,” he said. “From the publications and press releases to the way they treat winners, I’ve been really impressed. It’s easy to see that a lot of safeguards are in place to ensure that the lottery remains credible. I’m very impressed and appreciative.”

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2011, Guilford County education programs received more than $102.1 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, need-based college scholarships and prekindergarten programs.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.35 billion for these initiatives statewide.