Before we get to the ‘Mega’ jackpot and this week’s biggest winners, how about that seven-figure Pick 3 payout on Thursday night? The combination 3-2-1 paid out $1,013,450 on 10,051 winning tickets. Congrats to the winners and best of luck in the next drawing!
If you’ve been following lottery news this week, then you already know Friday’s Mega Millions jackpot is estimated at $290 million. With the cash option at $205.5 million, it’s the 8th-largest Mega Millions jackpot ever. Nothing beats a multimillion jackpot, but we had six winning tickets of $10,000 to $40,000 in Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing.
Another important topic heading into Friday night is the entry deadline for the $1 million Carolina Gold second chance drawing. Valid entries must be made by 11:59 p.m. Friday for a chance to win the biggest second-chance prize in North Carolina Education Lottery history. The drawing will be held March 28.
A final note about Friday night is related to North Carolina’s jackpot game, Carolina Cash 5. The jackpot is up to $137,000. Do you think one or more tickets will match all five numbers to win it, or will it roll to a larger amount this weekend?
A two-way Cash 5 jackpot split is exactly what happened last Friday. A pressman from Clayton and a truck driver from Monroe each won half of the $330,688 jackpot on March 16. A retiree from Bolivia in Brunswick County also collected a $91,855 jackpot this week.
The biggest of three scratch-off wins this week was the “prize of a lifetime” awarded to Michelle Stewart of Gastonia. She won $50,000 a Year for Life playing the $200,000 a Year for Life game. Not too far away, in Charlotte, Gail Bennett won the top prize on a $125,000 Casino Cash ticket. And across the state in Eastern North Carolina, Robert Tyburski from Grimesland in Pitt County won $100,000 playing Mega Bucks.
Jim Guthrie of Oak Ridge and Johnny Oxendine of Raeford are the first winners of $20,000 racing-themed trips in the first Ultimate Fan second-chance drawing held March 7. Two more second chance drawings will be held on April 11 and May 30.
Powerball players are looking at a $40 million jackpot for Saturday’s drawing, with a cash option of $23.7 million. As big as the Mega Millions jackpot is, it’s hard to say the words “forty million” and not realize it’s a big jackpot.
Let’s wrap-up the week with some other big scratch-off wins. Four $10,000 prizes went to players from Fletcher, Lexington, Oak Island and Raleigh. A player from Ellenboro won $50,000 instantly on a Mega Bucks ticket. It was a Sapphire Blue 7’s ticket that led to a Charlotte player’s $70,000 prize.
Early next week, we’ll look forward to finding out which North Carolinians had the best luck this weekend. Y’all take care and see you next time here in the Lucke-Zone.
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