RALEIGH – When it comes to the lottery, the Triad is on a lucky streak. On Wednesday, Leroy Woods of Greensboro became the third area resident this week to claim a $1 million prize.

He won playing the Maximum Green instant game, which offers $1 million winners the option of claiming the prize as a 20-year annuity or a lump sum of $600,000. Woods opted for the one-time payment, worth $408,003 after taxes. He purchased his winning ticket at the Food Rite Curb Market on East Market Street in Greensboro.

It was announced Tuesday that Powerball winners from Asheboro and Winston-Salem won $1 million each. Mike Conrad, a security guard from Winston-Salem, won in the Jan. 23 drawing. Terry Gray, a factory worker from Asheboro, won in the Jan. 26 drawing. Each matched all five white ball numbers to win $1 million.

Another Greensboro player, homemaker Sun Leatherwood, scratched off the top prize on a $100,000 Taxes Paid ticket. She learned of her big win while standing in the Parkway Express on University Parkway in Winston-Salem, where she purchased the lucky $5 ticket.

“I had stopped to buy some gas and people inside were scratching off tickets,” Leatherwood said. “I had never bought a lottery ticket before, so I decided to just try one. I couldn’t believe it. It’s so exciting. I’m going to take care of my family and help my church.”

Top prizes awarded in the $100,000 Taxes Paid game are actually worth $147,059. The lottery pays the minimum mandatory required federal and state tax withholding as part of the top prize awarded. With Leatherwood’s claim, one top prize of $100,000 remains unclaimed in the game.

A pair of Greensboro stores sold Mega Millions tickets worth $10,000 apiece in Tuesday’s drawing. The stores, located about ten miles apart, are The Garden Plaza on Pleasant Garden Road and the Patterson Family Fair on Patterson Street. Each ticket matched four white balls and the Mega Ball to win. The winning white balls numbers were 8 - 12 - 27 - 46 - 47 and the Mega Ball was 6. Draw game prizes must be claimed within 180 days of a drawing.

Ticket sales have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.6 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Guilford County education programs received more than $127.6 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and need-based college scholarships and financial aid.