Guilford, Northampton County tickets win ‘Prizes of a Lifetime’

If you’re like most people, you do some of the same things every week. Here at lottery headquarters, part of our routine is to wrap-up the biggest lottery wins of the week. And – for two very lucky lottery winners – their weeks will never be the same.

Back in November, Mary Eisenband was passing through North Carolina on her way to visit family in Georgia. It was then that the Union, New Jersey resident stopped just off I-95 at the Pilot Travel Center on N.C. 48 in Pleasant hill, which is in Northampton County. That’s where she scratched off the top prize on a $500 a Week for Life! ticket.

“This is more money than I have ever seen in my entire life,” said Eisenband as she collected her winnings. “I play the lottery these days because it’s fun for me. I play everywhere I go and I enjoy it. To win like this feels so wonderful. I still don’t believe it.”

A High Point man is this week’s other top prize winner in the $500 a Week for Life! game. Herbert Williams Jr. said he’ll purchase a new home and vehicle with his winnings. He bought his lucky $1 ticket at the Food Lion on North Main Street in High Point.

“I was sitting at home scratching the ticket and I just about fell on the floor,” Williams said as he collected his winnings on Thursday. “I was in the right place at the right time, I guess.”

Two lucky tickets for draw games won big prizes this week, but have yet to be claimed. A Carolina Cash 5 ticket, sold at Wilco #281 on N.C. 105 won the $581,760 jackpot on Monday night. The next day, a Mega Millions ticket sold at the Spartan BP on South Aycock Street in Greensboro won $1 million. A winning ticketholder has 180 days from the date of the drawing to claim the prize money.

Pick 3 players with tickets for the number 8-8-8 won a total of more than $3.4 million prizes in the evening drawing on Friday, Jan. 10. It was the sixth time in Pick 3 history that the number was drawn at random. Since the Pick 3 game began, a triple combination has been the winning numbers in a total of 44 drawings.

Let’s wrap up this week’s wrap-up with a look at who else scratched off big prizes:

• Amanda Cavalier of Fayetteville won $10,000 playing $250,000 Cash Money
• Victoria Crocker of Kings Mountain won $10,000 playing Money Vault
  
• Jesse Erwin of Charlotte won $10,000 playing $250,000 Cash Money
  
• Tinekequa Hayes of Henderson won $10,000 playing Holiday Gold
  
• John Hinton of Durham won $10,000 playing $250,000 Cash Money
  
• Larry Patterson of Graham won $10,000 playing EZ Money
  
• Dwinda Perry of Rocky Mount won $10,000 playing EZ Money
  
• Frankie Sharon of Stokesdale won $10,000 playing $120 Million Cash
  
• Barbara Utt of Wilkesboro won $10,000 playing $120 Million Cash
  
• Basanta Khadka of High Point won $20,000 playing the Color of Money
  
• Jeanette Lawrence of Kannapolis won $20,000 playing The Color of Money
  
• Phyllis Dukes of Leland won $25,000 playing Cherry Twist
  
• Jamaal Williams of Durham won $30,000 playing Triple The Money
  

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