While Peter and Amy Masse of Mooresville didn’t win last Wednesday’s $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot, they say their $100,000 win still felt “huge.”

Masse, a computer systems specialist, was working at home when he checked his ticket for the winning numbers. He said he called to his wife in the next room: “I think we just won something big.”

“We just stared and hugged each other,” Amy said. “It’s a huge day for us. It’s bigger than huge. It’s monumental!”

The couple claimed their prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. After required state and federal tax withholdings, they received $69,250. They plan to pay bills and put a down payment on a house.

The Masses purchased the winning $3 Power Play ticket at the Food Lion on Williamson Road in Mooresville. The $50,000 prize doubled when the 2x multiplier was drawn for Power Play tickets.

The Masse’s win was one of three $100,000 prizes won in North Carolina in the drawing.

Ticket sales from games like Powerball made it possible for the lottery to raise more than half a billion dollars for the state last year. For details on how over $ 60.7 million in lottery funds has made a difference in Iredell County, click on the “Where the Money Goes” section of the lottery’s website.