Prudence Powell of Danville, Va., couldn’t believe her eyes when a $5 Fast Play ticket turned into a $155,241 jackpot.

“I was asking myself, ‘Am I seeing this right?’” Powell recalled.

She bought her lucky $5 Red Hot Numbers ticket from Blue Ridge Tobacco & Candle Outlet on Cloverdale Avenue in Winston-Salem. Powell works at the store and bought the ticket on her lunch break. At the time of her purchase, the jackpot stood at $310,482. Since Powell bought a $5 ticket, she received 50% of the progressive jackpot.

Powell had trouble comprehending that she won the jackpot.

“I just kept looking at it,” she said. “It was like it wasn’t registering.”

Powell arrived on Wednesday to collect her prize and, after required state and federal tax withholdings, took home $111,387.

“This is life-changing for me,” Powell said.

She plans to use her winnings to help set up her retirement and pay for her daughter’s student loans.
Fast Play features an instantly growing jackpot that increases with every ticket sold until it is won. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Fast Play jackpot stands at $33,000 and counting.

For details on how money raised by the lottery made a difference for education programs in North Carolina last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.