North Carolinians won big in Friday’s Mega Millions drawing with 12 tickets winning $10,000, two Megaplier tickets winning $20,000, and two lucky tickets winning $1 million.
The two $1 million tickets matched all five white balls in the drawing. One was sold in Charlotte at the Adam’s Mart on Elm Lane and the other in Mooresville at the Shop N Save on the Mecklenburg Highway. The $1 million wins in North Carolina were two of 26 nationally in the drawing.
“Congratulation to all the big winners,” said Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery. “This huge Mega Millions jackpot created a lot of fun. Every ticket sold in North Carolina helped to raise more money for education this year.”
A single ticket sold in Illinois won the jackpot of $1.33 billion. The winner can claim the prize as an annuity or take a cash prize of $780.5 million cash. Friday’s jackpot ranked as the second largest in the history of the Mega Millions game and 3rd largest in U.S. history. The $1.58 billion Powerball jackpot in January 2016 remains the largest jackpot ever. The Mega Millions jackpot will reset to a $20 million annuity, or $11.6 million cash, for Tuesday’s drawing.
Two tickets matched four white balls and the Mega Ball, winning a base prize of $10,000. Because the buyers of those tickets added the $1 Megaplier feature, the prize for each of those tickets doubled to $20,000 when a 2X multiplier was picked in the drawing. Those lucky tickets were sold in Washington in Beaufort County at the Speedway on West 5th Street and in Statesville at the Quality Mart on Old Mountain Road.
Twelve other $2 tickets matched four white balls and the Mega Ball, winning $10,000. Those tickets were sold at:
• Harris Teeter, Flowers Crossroad Way, Clayton
• Food Lion, Ocean Highway, Calabash
• Circle K, West Williams St., Apex
• Vaughan Grocery, U.S. 158 East, Macon
• Value Mart, Carthage Street, Sanford
• Porter’s Neck Country Store, Market Street, Wilmington
• Lowe’s Foods, Carolina Beach Road, Wilmington
• Circle K, U.S. 1, Vass
• Tickled Pink C-Store, Kernersville Road, Winston-Salem
• Sheetz, Whitley Drive, Winterville
• Short Stop, Anderson Ponds Drive, Spring Lake
• Circle K, Waxhaw Highway, Mineral Springs.
Friday night’s winners have 180 days to claim their prizes.