Every week, six friends from Holly Ridge in Onslow County meet up at Dale’s Pub to try their luck in Powerball. Their dedication paid off on Feb. 5 with a $150,000 win.

They like to call themselves the Dale’s Pub Lottery Group.

“We’ve been doing it since the lottery started in North Carolina!” said Brenda White. “And we’re going to keep playing.”

For the last 14 years they’ve each pitched in $6, every week to play.

“We began with 25 people,” said Jason Allman. “Now we’re down to 6.”

This is the group’s first big win. Now that they’re on their winning streak they all agree that they’re “not letting anyone else in” to the group.

White, Allman, Joanna Barton, Lisa Jackson, Virginia Garrity and Myone Trombley all come from different backgrounds, but it’s friendship and playing Powerball at Dale’s after work that binds them together.

Barton works at Dale’s, located on East Ocean Road in Holly Ridge, which is where she bought the winning Power Play ticket. She is also in charge of collecting everyone’s $6 every week.

“We always go Quick Pick,” Barton said. “We missed it by one! We could’ve been millionaires!”

Missing it by one isn’t going to stop them from continuing to play every week.

“Not til I see that second comma,” said Barton.

Their winning ticket matched numbers on four of the white balls and the Powerball to win $50,000. The prize tripled when the 3X multiplier was drawn. The ticket beat odds of one in 913,129. The jackpot for Wednesday’s Powerball drawing is $90 million or $67.9 million cash.

The winners have a variety of different plans for the money. Some plan to pay off bills and finish home projects. Others see some travel, and maybe even a pool table, in their future. The six friends split their prize, and after required state and federal tax withholdings, each took home $17,691.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $700 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.