A forgotten ticket at the bottom of a purse became a $1 million Powerball win for Terry Peace of Waynesville.
“My wife found it in her pocketbook,” Peace said. “I guess when she initially reached in to check the tickets she just missed that one.”
Peace, 65, does renovation work on homes. He said winning this prize could lead to an early retirement.
“This is life-changing,” he said. “How many people really win a million dollars.”
Peace bought his $2 ticket for the Jan. 4 drawing from I Market on Barber Boulevard in Waynesville.
“I’ve always had good luck,” he said. “I always told people, ‘I know I have the luck to win.’”
Peace’s winning ticket matched numbers on all five white balls in the drawing. The odds of matching all five white balls are 1 in 11.6 million.
“We just can’t put into words how happy we are and how appreciative we are,” Peace said.
He claimed his prize at lottery headquarters Wednesday and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $712,501. Peace said he wants to put some money aside for his grandchildren, put some in savings, and buy a Ford F-150 truck.
Saturday’s Powerball drawing offers a $404 million jackpot, or $211.7 million in cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
Players can buy their Powerball tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.
Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. For details on how $3.1 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Haywood County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.