Seven players win $100,000 to $1 million this week

Since Thursday, May 16, players statewide have scratched and matched their way to $20.2 million in total prizes.

A pair of $1 million Powerball prizes were the largest claimed this week. James Wright of Charlotte said he'll save his winnings for retirement. “I was at work checking my ticket and everyone around me kept saying I had won a million dollars.” he recalled. “I just started shaking.”

Ron and Regina Phelps of Asheville took their time coming in to claim their $1 million, meeting last week with a financial advisor. The couple has more than 60 combined years of experience working as nurses. After all that time providing care, the couple said winning the lottery will allow them to think about retiring sooner.

Another winner this week from Buncombe County is Wanda Ruiz Padilla, a factory worker from Arden. She scratched off $200,000 playing the Power 7's game. “I saw the black seven, and I knew that I won something,” said Ruiz Padilla. “I kept seeing zero, zero, zero. I was in shock. I had to look at that ticket 10 to 15 times to make sure that I wasn’t dreaming.”

In Robeson County, a couple from Pembroke celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary with a $150,000 lottery prize. Gerald Strickland won the first top prize in the Mega Money Multiplier game which started on April 16.

This week's lone Carolina Cash 5 jackpot claimant is Ronald Johnson of Cary in Wake County. The roofing contractor was stunned when he found out he won $149,825 on May 13. “I was up late that night so I decided to watch the drawing,” he recalled. “My heart started racing when they drew my fourth number. You could say I was pleased, needless to say.”

This is a good one. King resident Ken Johnson decided to try his luck after his horoscope suggested he might want to - and won $100,000. “I felt encouraged,” said Johnson, a Capricorn who starts each day by reading his horoscope. “I scratched the numbers, and I saw all of these zeroes,” said the Stokes County man, who works as a manufacturing associate. “I asked the guy behind the counter, “Am I reading this right?”

Sunday turned out to be Roderick Singletary’s lucky day as he won a $100,000 prize playing the $4,000,000 Gold Bullion game. Singletary, a carpenter from Middlesex in Nash County, said he usually meets a friend on Sundays at the Trans Mini Mart on East Finch Avenue and together they try their luck with the lottery. “It just happened to be my lucky day,” said Singletary as he collected his prize money Monday at the N.C. Education Lottery headquarters in Raleigh.

Someone who played Carolina Cash 5 in the Queen City won a king’s ransom in Wednesday’s drawing. A ticket sold at the 7-Eleven on Providence Road in Charlotte matched all five numbers in Wednesday’s drawing to win the $255,597 jackpot.

Michael Owens of Jamestown won $40,000 in the May 18 Powerball drawing. Six other players claimed the $10,000 prizes they won: Spencer Pannell of Marion, Mark Crim of China Grove, Keri Malkin of Wilmington, Thurston Mattocks of Greenville, Jeffrey Everette of Garner, and Espolito Duarte of Raleigh. A seventh ticket worth $10,000, unclaimed at this time, was sold at Earp's Express on Brighton Park Road in Charlotte.

A pair of Mega Millions tickets worth $10,000 in recent drawings also have yet to be claimed. They were sold at the El Paisa Latin Foods store on Wellons Street in Four Oaks for the May 17 drawing and at the 1 Stop & Shope on West Haggard Avenue in Elon for the May 14 drawing.

Nine more instant scratch-off players claimed big prizes this week:

• Sarah Faircloth of Laurel Hill won $50,000 playing $100,000 Taxes Paid
• Charles Cranford of Asheboro won $10,000 playing Jumbo Bucks
  
• Robert Creasy of Dobson won $10,000 playing MONOPOLY    
  
• William Davis of Dudley won $10,000 playing MONOPOLY
  
• Calvin Little of Charlotte won $10,000 playing MONOPOLY
  
• Harlan Luedecke of Fayetteville won $10,000 playing $5,000 a Week for Life!
  
• Donna McCall of Sylva won $10,000 playing Ruby Red 7’s
  
• Miral Patel of Cary won $10,000 playing 20X The Money
  
• Matthew Roddick of Clayton won $10,000 playing MONOPOLY
  

Thanks for being with us here in the Lucke-Zone. Our offices and claim centers will be closed on Monday in observance of the Memorial Day Holiday. We thank all those who have served, do serve, and will serve our country - and hope that everyone has a fun and safe weekend.