Players scratch and match for $1 million prizes

Every big lottery win has a story, and Charles Reffitt’s got a great one. The day after Wednesday’s Powerball drawing, Reffitt walked into the Grocery boy Jr. in Cary. That’s where the clerk told Reffitt that someone who played Powerball there had won $1 million. “He told me to check my ticket so I handed it to him,” Reffitt said. “He started jumping up and down and said I had won a million dollars. I signed the ticket and put it right back in my wallet. I couldn’t believe it.”

Another $1 million winner this week is Dale Briggs, a resident of the small town of Vass in Moore County. He scratched off the top prize playing a 50X The Cash ticket. “I’m tickled to death,” Briggs said as he collected his winnings. “I feel awesome. This is a world-changing event for me.”

50X The Cash is the $10 game in a multiplier-themed suite of instant scratch-off games that started at the beginning of August. The other three games are 20X The Cash, 10X The Cash and 5X The Cash. Briggs wasn’t the only player to multiply his instant winnings playing one of those games this week:

•    Linda Williams of Franklinton won $10,000 playing 5X The Cash
•    Darius White of Connelly Springs won $10,000 playing 50X The Cash
•    Lydia Tart of Randleman won $10,000 playing 50X The Cash
•    Takisha McLain of McColl, S.C. won $10,000 playing 20X The Cash
•    Amy Kayser of Shallotte won $10,000 playing 50X The Cash
•    Laponda Demby of Raleigh won $10,000 playing 20X The Cash
•    Charles Loughran of Havelock won $50,000 playing 10X The Cash

And those weren’t the only players to scratch off big prizes this week. Others are:

•    Audrey Warwick of Lumberton, who won $10,000 playing $5,000 a Week for Life!
•    Ronald Hutton of Clemmons, who won $10,000 playing Cash Spectacular
•    James Bailey of Archdale, who won $10,000 playing Ruby Red 7’s
•    Judy Stilley of Greensboro, who won $12,000 playing Money Vault
•    Tommie McLaurin of Hamlet, who won $50,000 playing Super Loteria

With the estimated annuity value of the Powerball jackpot at $203 million heading into Saturday’s drawing, three players of the game collected big prizes they won in last Saturday’s drawing:

•    Howard Silver of Hollister won $10,000 on the ticket he purchased at the Murphy Express on Eastern Avenue in Nashville
•    Kenneth Wilkerson of Morganton won $10,000 on the ticket he purchased at the Jack B Quick on Connelly Springs Road in Lenoir
•    Ernest Eddins of Wilmington won $40,000 on the Power Play ticket he purchased at the Kangaroo Express on Market Street in Wilmington

And last but certainly not least, a $568,550 Carolina Cash 5 jackpot belongs to a player from Goldsboro. Anthony Marks, a regional manager for a mental health agency, said he’ll use the prize money to pay off his mortgage and retire. “I saw the numbers on TV but only thought I had matched three at first,” Marks said as he collected his winnings. “But then I saw the last two. I still can’t believe it’s real.”

Until next time, have a fun and safe weekend. See you soon here in the Lucke-Zone.