It's been a week chock full of lucky winner stories. Here's a quick rundown...
Two players took home $100,000 prizes in the $100,000 Treasure Tree game this week. Richard “JJ” Ledford, a painter from Enka in Buncombe County, said he plans to use his $100,000 win playing the $100,000 Treasure Tree game to help a charity and boost his savings.
Ledford’s good luck came Saturday night when he bought instant tickets at the One Stop on Wiggins Road in Candler. He said he first won $10 on an instant ticket, bought some more tickets and won $15, and then used the winnings to buy a Carolina Gold ticket and a $100,000 Treasure Tree ticket. His lucky streak continued with a $50 win on Carolina Gold and then the top prize in the $100,000 Treasure Tree game.
“I called my wife and she didn’t believe me,” Ledford said Friday as he collected his check. “She said, “How come you are so calm?’ I said, ‘I’m speechless.’”
It's a rare thing to scratch off a $100,000 prize, but Andrey Griswold has done it twice so far this year. Griswold, a maintenance worker from the Wayne County section of La Grange, says he was “shocked twice” when he discovered he had won a second $100,000 prize while playing an instant game with the N.C. Education Lottery. Griswold won the top prize in one of the lottery’s holiday games, $100,000 Treasure Tree, after buying three $5 tickets at the Save Mart of Lenoir on Wooten Street in La Grange. In July, Griswold won the $100,000 top prize in the 10X the Money scratch-off game.
This weeks biggest win came from a single Carolina Cash 5 ticket. Robert Parker had heard someone won big in the Sunday, Nov. 20 drawing. But he didn't realize it was him until the day after Thanksgiving when he checked a few tickets resting on the shelf of his china cabinet. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that his ticket matched all five winning numbers to win $634,650.
A man from Wilmington won twice on the same Cash 5 drawing, including the jackpot. When Erminio Lamanna of Wilmington purchased tickets for the Nov. 26 Carolina Cash 5 drawing, he said he hoped he would win his money back. Little did he know that the fourth ticket would go on to match four numbers for a $104 prize and the fifth would match all five numbers drawn, winning him $128,895.
Did you stop in Concord to buy a ticket this week? A Carolina Cash 5 ticket sold in Concord matched all five numbers in the Dec. 1 drawing and is worth $143,932. The winning numbers were 5-8-11-16-30. The ticket was sold at the Carolina Fast Mart on 601 Highway in Concord. Players have 180 days from the draw date to claim their prize.
Players in tonight’s Mega Millions drawing have a chance to win an estimated $75 million prize if taken as an annuity or $55.4 million if the lump sum option is chosen. The Tuesday, Nov. 29 drawing paid out $86,401 to 10,682 winning tickets.
Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is an estimated $40 million if taken as an annuity or $25.5 million if taken as a lump sum. In Wednesday’s drawing, 20,721 tickets paid out a total of $173,199.
Since Monday, Nov. 28, players have collected more than $6.3 million in instant scratch-off ticket prizes. Carolina Pick 3 players have won more than $1.2 million. Carolina Pick 4 players have won more than $358,000 including 18 top prizes of $5,000. Carolina Cash 5 players have won more than $255,000.
Have a great week, Lucke-Zoners, and keep those lucky stories coming!
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