A brother and sister, Chanthavong and Daravone Boulany of Maiden, play Powerball together and, after winning a $100,000 prize in the July 24 drawing, they agreed to split the winnings.
They bought the lucky $3 Power Play ticket from Hop In on Island Ford Road in Maiden. The ticket matched the numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000. The prize doubled to $100,000 when the 2X multiplier hit.
They claimed the prize Friday at lottery headquarters. After splitting the prize, they each received $50,000 and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, they each took home $35,625.
They both plan to use their share of the winnings to pay for school.
The jackpot in Monday’s Powerball drawing climbed to $145 million, or $71.1 million in cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
Powerball is one of six lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or 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. Catawba County received $40 million in state grants, with money raised by the lottery, to help with school construction. For details on other ways Catawba County benefits from lottery funds, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.