Pair of $1 million wins headline week’s biggest

This week’s big winner wrap-up comes on Thursday, because our offices and claim centers are closed Friday. It might have been a short week, but there was no shortage of winners!

We’ll start with the winners of $1 million prizes. Durham resident Michael J. Kelly is the first player in the state to claim $1 million playing the new Powerball game. That prize amount is five times more than he would have won in the old game. Perry Greene, a resident of Lawndale in Cleveland County, plans to pay bills with the $1 million prize he scratched off on his Maximum Green ticket.

All three tickets that split the March 29 Cash 5 jackpot showed up at headquarters. Jake Pitchford, a resident of Nashville in Nash County, won two-thirds of it - $467,834 - after the numbers he played on two separate tickets matched all five winning numbers. The remaining $233,917 prize was awarded to Tim Kirby, a supervisor at a cable manufacturer in Alexander County. He told us he plans to pay off his mortgage, fund his children’s education, and purchase a convertible for his wife.

We’re still waiting to meet three of the four quarter million dollar winners from the record-breaking Mega Millions drawing on March 30. But we did get to talk to the winners of one of those $250,000 prizes - Lonnie Johnson and Lonnie Johnson Jr. of Broadway in Harnett County.

More scratch-off tickets led to big wins for lucky North Carolina players. Regina Ritter, a telecommunications coordinator from Robbins in Moore County, plans to use the $200,000 she scratched off on her Extreme Green ticket to help her family and take a vacation. Robert Wallace, a cook from Oak Island in Brunswick County, scratched off a $100,000 prize on the Bankroll Doubler ticket he purchased Friday. This was the second time his family had won a big lottery prize. His wife claimed a Powerball ticket worth $200,000 in 2011.

Instant prizes of $10,000 went to players from Wake Forest and Kinston on $200 Million Extravaganza and Carolina Gold tickets, respectively. A Fayetteville resident won $27,000 playing Electric 7’s. The first top prize in the $30,000 Taxes Paid game went to a player from Elizabeth City. A pair of players scratched-off $50,000 prizes this week: A Roanoke Rapids resident on a Loteria ticket, and a Lexington player on a Maximum Green ticket. A Silver 7’s ticket means $70,000 in prize money for a player from Robersonville.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe holiday weekend. See you next time here in the Lucke-Zone.