Amazing winner stories this week

March 22, 2011 Posted by NC Lottery at 3:20 PM

Lottery HQ has been buzzing with big winners. In the last few days we've awarded prizes of $50,000 a year for life to a pair of Winston-Salem players, a $290,146 Cash 5 prize to a Bertie County man, and a $250,000 Mega Millions prize to a group of restaurant employees.

But one of the most amazing wins in NCEL history belongs to Kecia Parker of Dunn. You may have read her story in the news: thanks to exceptional work by our security division, police arrested a retailer who is now charged with trying to illegally claim the prize as his own. After careful steps were taken, it was determined that Parker was in fact the rightful owner of a Cash 5 ticket worth $89,719.

Parker received her prize yesterday as she met with executive director Alice Garland and security investigator Jeremy Mittag. “I want everyone to know what a fantastic job the lottery did,” said Parker. “I am so amazed that the lottery would go above and beyond. You didn’t have to track me down. I never would have known. I am just amazed you were able to find out who I was and find me.”

“People who play the lottery deserve to get the prizes they win,” said Garland. “Our folks were determined they were going to find the owner of this ticket because we take the integrity of the lottery seriously. We’re glad this story had a happy ending.”

And while we’re talking about the happy ending: every day, players are able to buy tickets and claim prizes at any of our more than 6,400 retailers without any problems at all. Our security team works around the clock to prevent issues before they start. If you have specific concerns about a retailer’s practices, you can call the security hotline 24 hours a day at 888-732-6235. If you have questions about the games, you can ask us here, pick up a “How to Play” brochure at a retailer, or call the player hotline at 877-962-7529 from 8am to 5:30pm, Monday through Friday.

So with all that said, here are a few tips for players:

Always sign the back of your lottery ticket at the time of purchase.
Listen for the lottery terminal to play a brief musical tune as ticket is scanned. The tune plays for all prizes of $50 and higher.
Watch the display on the lottery terminal as a ticket is scanned. The terminal will show the prize amount up to $599 or carry a message of “Claim at the lottery” for those of $600 or more.
Ask the clerk for a validation receipt when redeeming a winning ticket. The receipt will verify the amount of your winnings.

Pictured left to right are: Alice Garland, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery, Matt Parker, Kecia Parker, and NCEL security investigator Jeremy Mittag.

59 COMMENTS

4/21/2011 11:03 - NC Lottery

@ POWELL04 - we've answered this question many times. Everyone who plays the lottery has the same chance of winning. The % of people winning in big and small places comes out about the same. You would expect there to be a proportional amount of winners from everywhere given the population and ticket sales. Also, media coverage varies a lot. Just because you haven't heard about winners in a certain part of the state doesn't mean folks aren't winning.

4/21/2011 08:43 - Alesha F.

I play the lottery faithfully but i noticed a trend of big lottery winners coming from larger cities and the smaller towns rarely have winners. Are winning tickets only concentrated in larger cities?

4/09/2011 11:20 - denise p.

When a retailer check YOUR ticket(s) you have to be careful that the retailer ARE scanning YOUR ticket and not someone else ticket. Because you could have a winning ticket and not even know it. Thats why I check my numbers before I take my ticket to the check-out. RULE OF THUMB! all ways check your own ticket 1st. Then proceed to the retailer

4/04/2011 11:48 - NC Lottery

@CAPRICORNQUEEN - we would like to answer all your questions here but since you have so many specific things you want answered, we recommend you give our player hotline a call: 877-962-7529 - please let us know here if they were able to answer your questions! Thank you

4/04/2011 11:46 - NC Lottery

@ WEATHER - OK, so for your first question. Some stores just don't have enough in sales to pay out a $500 prize. A grocery store is a good option. Sorry that you had to try a few places before you could find one that could pay out the prize, but we can't control that. As for your second question: the odds of winning are for the *entire printing run of tickets* - not for consecutive tickets on a roll. If the odds of winning a game with 1 in 3.3 odds was that simple, everyone would buy 4 tickets at a time to make sure they win. That's not the way lottery games work in North Carolina or in any other state. Your overall odds of winning are printed on the ticket but there's no telling where a winning ticket might be.

4/04/2011 11:41 - NC Lottery

@ RW2088 - to answer your question about winners near where you live... we've answered this question many times. No matter where you live, you have the same chance of winning. One thing you should know is that players from big cities ask us the same question, except they think that only folks from small towns win. And players from the western part of the state ask why only players in the east win. The truth is, the fact is, anyone from anywhere can win. Yes, you see many winners where more people are playing - that is expected because the odds of winning have a chance to play out over and over again. But that is not always the case, we have had lots of winners from small towns, too. We appreciate your question.

4/04/2011 11:41 - NC Lottery

@ RW2088 - we do everything we can to remind North Carolinians to play responsibly. We do not want folks to play lottery games if they need that income for bills and other necessities. Winner payouts in all 100 counties of the state are generally in line with the amount of ticket sales in an area. Winning a lottery game is a matter of luck - nobody knows where winning tickets will show up. We don't control that, the lottery can only continue to offer games to players if the games are fair and everyone has an honest chance to win. We respect everyone's choice to play or not play depending on their situation and their preferences.

4/04/2011 10:04 - Robert W.

it seems as though the results are slim and none in the South East part of town true fact

4/04/2011 09:52 - Jackie H.

Validation Ticket: How do you determine if you where given the correct ticket back with your correct winnings? Should not the number above the barcode printed on the winning ticket be on the VT? Comment on the music playing over $50. I won on the pick 4 and went to Raleigh headquarters to claim my large winnings I thought but it was only $200. So to eliminate the paper work I went to a retailer in Henderson and they check the ticket, were unable to pay and no music was played at that time. I went to a grocery store for my winnings.

4/04/2011 09:07 - Jackie H.

I've notice that some retailers scan scratch off tickets during a transaction and some don't. Is it possible for retailers to check for winning tickets before they are sold to the general public?

4/03/2011 08:31 - montory p.

U GOT TO PAY,TO PLAY.......GOODLUCK TO ALL PLAYERS.

4/02/2011 07:43 - CHRISTOPHER L.

i live in eastern nc,and had to go to 4th grocery store to cash a ticket for 500.00 my thing is if they don't cash a ticket should not be able to sell it.whats up with the odds anyway?bought 20 cash spectacular and nothing,yet odds say 1 in 3.3? where r my 7 tickets that should have won?

4/02/2011 08:52 - Robert W.

it seems really strange that places like wilson NC never has any major lotto winners Whats up with that its a fact that the poor coomunities play way more than any other county its our turn pass on the cash...

4/01/2011 09:23 - NC Lottery

@ LYNN - the final second chance drawing for the Harley game has already happened. There's one top prize of $75,000 still unclaimed for that game.

4/01/2011 07:04 - lynn p.

Got new harley tickets, can not seem to enter them in for a second chance drawing, whats the problem?

3/31/2011 07:36 - glynis s.

i just wanna win the cash 5 lol not many in Haywood County lately.

3/31/2011 04:15 - jerry s.

On a positive note, I have no problem buying losing tickets to register for 2nd chance drawing-13 out of 13 so far! The Education Lottery is educating me! If the lottery really wanted to be fair, they would let us scratch until we win and then pay for the tickets:)

3/30/2011 03:23 - Ronnie E.

I entered in 100+ tickets in on the last drawing for the harley second chance drawing and won nothing. :( well maybe next time.

3/30/2011 02:17 - NC Lottery

@ BORN - thanks. @ BORN & @ KELLY - a "subscribe" feature is not something that's currently in the works in North Carolina. The law here is different from the one in VA. Who knows down the line. Thanks for the question

3/30/2011 02:16 - NC Lottery

@ THUNDERCHILD - looks like there were 224,810 entries for the last Harley drawing.

3/30/2011 01:34 - David T.

Watch out for the $500,000 anniversary cash tickets. I bought 3 in sequence and each one had 3 6 and 9 on the top 2 lines. they will not win. It was the same numbers the old video poker machines showed on losing hands back in S.C.

3/30/2011 11:04 - jerry s.

Lucke-Zone, Kelly is refering to Va. lottery. Check their website and click on "subscribe", but you must have a Va. mailing address to subscribe. That would be neat in N.C. also.

3/30/2011 10:42 - Larry L.

I enjoyed the Harley game. I didn't win big but I hope you will run it again. Drop the top cash prize from 75 to 65 so you could add a cash prize to each second chance drawings along with the bike and the prize packs. Now that it's over any stats as to how many second chance tickets were submitted? I am looking at my pile of second chance tickets and thinking there must have been a lot of folks

3/29/2011 10:52 - NC Lottery

@ KELLY - what do you mean subscribe?

3/29/2011 12:05 - Kelly P.

Will NCEL ever have where you can subscribe like VA has? it sure would be nice. and not just for the Big games but also the cash 5. Maybe one day????

3/28/2011 05:08 - sharon m.

I had a dream i had a scratch off ticket winning $500,000 2 days later i saw the first ad for 5th anniversary. Oh how i hope dreams come true

3/28/2011 09:41 - NC Lottery

@WDNDR that # is 877-962-7529

3/28/2011 09:41 - NC Lottery

@WDNDR - We would like you to call our player hotline so that we can share some information with you about what things we can control and what things we can't control about how retailers award prizes to players with winning tix.

3/28/2011 09:35 - NC Lottery

@ WCM - Congrats on the win :-) With respect to your question: some retailers don't have as much cash on hand as others. Grocery stores are usually a good option. We encourage retailers to accommodate players as much as possible, and we have certain guidelines that we require them to follow, but we can't control how they run their businesses completely. We encourage you to give business to retailers who are helpful and treat you the way you want to be treated.

3/27/2011 12:22 - William M.

I finally won $100 on your $500,000 Anniversary Cash, but had one heck of a time finding a retailer that would cash it. I can understand if it was for $500 but if retailers are going to sell lottery tickets they should be able to cash tickets for $100 or less.

3/26/2011 10:04 - NC Lottery

@ lalucas - there's no way that a lottery game can pay out huge prizes to some winners if every ticket wins a prize. All games, including $10 and $20 games, have the odds of winning published on them. Our job is to offer folks fair games, with the CHANCE to win - and to raise money for education as well. So there's no way that all lottery tickets will be winners. But everyone who plays does have the same chance to win and helps us do our job to provide support to education programs too.

3/26/2011 02:10 - lisa a.

I think if you purchase $10 or $20 tickets u should win something. I purchase $10 and $20 tickets an get nothing. I must say most people that win are in the western areas. I feel that I spend more money then I win. Please look into it...Thanks,

3/25/2011 09:10 - david w.

dear luckezone,obviously you don't know your own system.if i take a 500 dollar winner to a retailer and they scan it the FIRST thing that comes up on THEIR screen is winner 500.00,can U pay this amount and nothing comes up on the small CUSTOMER SCREEN.THEN AND ONLY THEN THE RETAILER HAS A CHOICE TO PAY,DECLINE,OR LIE AND SEE IF THE CUSTOMER KNOWS!!!NOT UNTIL THE RETAILER SAYS I CAN PAY AND PUNCHES THE BUTTON TO PAY DOES THE MUSIC PLAY AND IT SHOWS ON THE CUSTOMER SCREEN!!!THAT LEAVES THE CUSTOMER THE OPTION TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE AND CASH IN THE TICKET IF THE RETAILER SAYS I CANNOT PAY,CANNOT B CHANGED IF THEY AGREE TO PAY WON'T WORK SOMEWHERE ELSE B-CAUSE IT WILL SHOW ALLREADY PAID.WITH THAT SAID,DON'T KNOW ABOUT CASH5,POWERBALL,ETC. HAVEN'T HAD THE PRIVELEGE OF SEEING THAT,USED TO SAY CLAIM PRIZE AT LOTTERY,DON'T KNOW ABOUT MUSIC FOR THAT NOW,BUT ALL RETAILERS STILL DON'T HAVE NEW SYSTEM W/MUSIC AHAH!!!PLAYERS CHECK YOUR TICKETS,HAVE SOME IDEA OF WHAT U HAVE OR DON'T!!!

3/25/2011 09:38 - lillian d.

I LIVE IN MEBANE & I WISH I COULD WIN BIG SO I CAN BUY MY SON WHO HAS COLAN CANCER A HOUSE TO LIVE IN I AM PRAYING GOD WILL LET THAT WISH COME TRUE SOON I AM NOT GIVEING UP IF YOU ARE NOT IN YOU CANT WIN WISH ME LUCK ON THE BIG ONE THANKS

3/25/2011 07:19 - tom k.

how about some charlotte winners send some winners this way please

3/24/2011 08:25 - pandora b.

i think its great to have the north carolina Lottery.it took long enough to get it.so we should play and know our time will come.its good to have a chance to win.

3/24/2011 07:01 - Pamela L.

This is fun. I hope I win. Go Me. I hope we all win something. Really...Go Me!

3/24/2011 04:14 - shadavia c.

i agree, i doesnt matter where u live, u can win 2!! However, y is it that when a new ticket comes out u buy $10 worth of $2 ones and win nothing?

3/24/2011 10:09 - NC Lottery

@ KARYN - where are you looking for pictures of the second chance winners? The second chance drawing results for the Harley game are coming soon. The motorcycle winner has been notified so there's just some final steps to get the whole list posted online.

3/24/2011 10:04 - NC Lottery

@ MICHELLE - The biggest jackpot winner in North Carolina history is from Asheville - he won $141.4 million. And our first jackpot winner ever was from Halifax County, east of I-95. @ EVERYONE - no matter where you live, everyone has an equal chance of winning a prize, big or small, but there's no guarantee of winning. That's what makes it the lottery... We love finding out about winners no matter where they live, we have no reason to hope people win more in one part of the state than the other. We are the North Carolina Education Lottery and we're rooting for all of you :-)

3/24/2011 09:51 - MICHELLE F.

We were all talking in the store the other night how all the wins you hear about are in the middle of NC: Charlotte & Relaigh area! I for one would like to see some winning tickets sold in the western part of NC! We never hear of anybody winning any big money? I have played the lottery for 5 yrs now & the most I have ever won is 100.00! We had more luck playing SC lottery. We have won a few $1.00 or &5.00 tickets though? Send some winning tickets this way Please! Thanks!

3/24/2011 04:19 - Karyn M.

why is it that when you try to look at pictures of the second chance winners/ the onlt thing that comes up is a black empty screen? Is there a trick to it?

3/23/2011 08:05 - John D.

I live in the eastern part of NC.I have hit a few thousand dollar tickets,a few 500.00 tickets , a whole bunch of 100.00 tickets. I have lost a gazillion times.It dont matter where you live when its your turn you will win. Just enjoy Playing! I also tip my hat to NC lottery for going the extra mile to find the right winner of that ticket.

3/23/2011 06:30 - montory p.

CAN I JUST WIN SUMTHIN........TWO,THREE DOLLARS SUMTHIN.

3/23/2011 06:05 - Rebecca T.

I agree with some of you. Living in the eastern part of the state, I've noticed there's not too many winners here. Most of the winners are Raleigh on westward. What's going on? Someone needs to fix this problem.

3/23/2011 04:02 - NC Lottery

@ WDNDR - It is not possible to "stop" the music from playing at the terminal where tickets are checked. However, a store can have a lot of other noise going on and so it can be hard to hear it. It is true that someone could unplug the screen - but that is against lottery policy and we would encourage you to call our security hotline if you see this happening at a specific store. We know it is possible that some people will choose not to do the right thing, that is why our security people work every day to stop problems before they start.

3/23/2011 03:19 - jerry s.

When I take tickets to a retailer, I already know what they`ve won. I never would have taken that ticket anywhere but the regional claims office.

3/23/2011 01:42 - ivor t.

Soo glad to know how honest the lottery is and how you can determine any wrong doings!

3/23/2011 12:21 - henrietta m.

Yes,there is not som many winners in the north eastern part of the state IE-- oxford,

3/23/2011 09:50 - Claude B.

I for one would really like to see some more winners in the EASTERN part of North carolina, thank You !!

3/23/2011 09:37 - Tracy C.

If the lottery home page is going to have a "POLL," change it!, that one has been up for over 2 weeks.Good grief.

3/23/2011 09:20 - NC Lottery

@ YUCT65 - would you believe that people in the western and central parts of the state tell us the same thing? There's an equal chance of winning no matter where you live.

3/23/2011 09:19 - NC Lottery

@ JOJO, there is a process in place to contact and validate the motorcycle winner. As soon as that's done, we'll post all the winners. Don't worry!

3/23/2011 06:37 - james a.

yes,yes,yes!!!!!!!!!!

3/22/2011 09:36 - Arnold Y.

Not many winners in the eastern part of the state. Not even scratch offs.

3/22/2011 08:52 - Gerrick L.

good. job

3/22/2011 07:24 - Myra O.

What is the holdup with 2nd chance Harley Davidson drawing 03-16-11?

3/22/2011 07:22 - david w.

retailers can stop the music from playing and it showing on the screen on winners up to 599.00 if they don't agree to pay and say not a winner.it's not flawless.

3/22/2011 05:04 - Jacqueline F.

I'm so happy...for them.

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Amazing winner stories this week

March 22, 2011 Posted by NC Lottery at 3:20 PM

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