RALEIGH – Powerball players in North Carolina, especially those in the Charlotte area, should double check any tickets they have to see if they are the winner of an unclaimed $1 million prize.

The ticket was purchased for the Sept. 19, 2012 Powerball drawing and will expire on Monday, March 18. The selling retailer is the Adams Mart at 11130 East Independence Boulevard in Matthews.

The ticket matched five white balls in the drawing. The five white balls for that drawing were:

1 - 5 - 8 - 39 - 50

“Celebrating winners is one of the most fun things we do at the lottery,” said Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “We hate to see prizes go unclaimed, especially ones of this size.”

To claim the $1 million prize, the ticket must be presented at N.C. Education Lottery headquarters in Raleigh by 5 p.m. on March 18. The deadline ends the 180-day period for winners to claim a prize.

Ticket sales for games such as instant scratch-offs have enabled the lottery to raise more than $2.6 billion for education initiatives statewide. Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Mecklenburg County education programs received more than $210.9 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.