The week in winners – June 3, 2011

Let’s start with Powerball where North Carolina players won more than $1.9 million in prizes this week. For three players, five was the magic number – as in matching all five white balls led to big prizes they claimed at HQ.

Thanks to the Power Play feature, the biggest winner of the week is Rich Wright of Chapel Hill, who won $1 million in Wednesday’s drawing: “I knew I had power played so I knew it was a million dollars,” Wright said at NCEL headquarters. “I couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘Oh, my God.’ And my family said, ‘What?’ And I said, ‘We just hit the lottery.’”

Karen Peele, a hairstylist in Oak Island won $200,000 on her five-digit match: “[My husband] thought we had only won maybe a thousand dollars,” Peele said. “But I logged on the lottery website and saw how much you win if you match five numbers. I’m still in shock.”

And you probably heard the story of the retired maintenance supervisor who almost threw away his $200,000 Powerball ticket. James Dixon of Burlington checked his numbers in the paper and thought he hadn’t won anything – only to realize he was reading a newspaper from a different date (he rescued his winning ticket and claimed his prize).

Also for Wednesday's Powerball drawing, stores in Shelby, New Bern, Goldsboro and Lincolnton sold tickets worth $10,000 each. Stephanie Aderholdt of Shelby already claimed her prize.

On to Carolina Cash 5. We don't know yet who bought the $229,095-winning Cash 5 ticket for last night's drawing. But we know it was sold at Lee's Quick Stop on North Main Street in Mount Holly (Gaston County). Barney Jacobs of Orange Park, Florida won $63,280 on a Cash 5 ticket he bought in Clemmons (Forsyth County) for the May 26 drawing. And wrapping up Cash 5 jackpot claims for this week, Sherrill Jimison of Canton (Haywood County) won $50,000 the following night.

Instant winners cashed in prizes of more than $10.7 million this week, including two scratch-off players who cashed in $100,000 prizes on the EZ Grand game: Kenneth Gove of Statesville (Iredell County), and Cecelia Magana of Bailey (Wilson County). Two Charlotte players won $50,000 instantly: Angel Lopez on Loteria, and Lottie White on $50,000 Jackpot.

A pair of players in the western part of the state scored big wins this week. Rosalene Sneed of Cherokee won a $30,000 instant prize playing Bingo and Ramon Lanza of Asheville won $20,000 playing $20K Payday. Two players won $10,000 prizes playing $200,000 a Year for Life: Faye Kiser of Winston-Salem and Clive Priest of Elizabeth City.

Nine instant players claimed $5,000 prizes this week, five of them on $200 Million Extravaganza tickets. Those players are from Cary, McLeansville, Jacksonville, Stokesdale and Fort Mill, S.C.. Three of the $5,000 prize winners won playing Cash Spectacular. Those lucky players are from Concord, New Bern and Shelby. The ninth $5,000 winner is from Mooresville and won playing Quick Bucks.

Enjoy your weekend, and good luck North Carolina!