Charles Darkwah of Greensboro took a chance on a $2 Powerball ticket for Wednesday’s drawing and won a $1 million prize.

Darkwah’s $2 ticket matched numbers on five white balls to win $1 million, the largest prize won nationally in the drawing. The odds of matching five white balls in a drawing are 1 in 11.6 million.

He purchased his winning ticket from the Circle K on North Main Street in Archdale. He claimed his prize Thursday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $707,501.

Saturday’s Powerball jackpot weighs in at $86 million. A winner would have the choice of the $86 million annuity or $60.9 million in cash. Since Aug. 23, Powerball drawings are now held three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Powerball is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets either through the lottery’s website, or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The other games are Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, and Carolina Cash 5.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. For details on how $32 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Guilford County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.