Powerball is fun, but there’s so much more!

The record-breaking Powerball jackpot has generated excitement among long-time, occasional and first-time players. Whether you just bought a lottery ticket for the first time or not, here five fun things you should know:

1: Your playing experience doesn’t have to end when the drawing is done. Whether your numbers match the winning numbers or not, you can enter your ticket here in the Lucke-Zone players’ club to earn Lucke-Rewards points at no extra cost. You can then use those points to enter exclusive weekly and monthly drawings for cash prizes and other merchandise!

2: Powerball is one of the top lottery games in North Carolina – especially when the jackpot gets this big – but instant scratch-off games are the most popular with our players. With tickets starting at $1 and prizes up to $10 million, there are dozens to choose from with a variety of themes, including extended play-style games like Ruby Red Crossword.

3: Lucke-Rewards isn’t just for games that have drawings. Both winning and non-winning instant scratch-off tickets can be entered here in the Lucke-Zone. Not only do all tickets earn you Lucke-Rewards points, but some instant games have second-chance drawings. By submitting an eligible ticket during an entry period, you will automatically get your points and will be entered into any drawings associated with that game.

4: You may know that drawings are held twice a week for the multistate games Powerball and Mega Millions. But did you know that we have our state’s very own jackpot game? It is called Carolina Cash 5 and drawings are held every night. For $1 per play, the jackpot starts at $50,000 and – like the other jackpot games – grows after each drawing until one or more tickets matches all the winning numbers. Last night’s Cash 5 jackpot was won for $890,583!

5: Although it always takes luck to win games of chance, folks who play the lottery in North Carolina win prizes all the time. On average, players win more than $3 million in prizes every day. In a given week we often meet anywhere from three to five winners of $100,000 or more. And, in the span of one year, we had 55 wins of $1 million or more. You can read the stories of our biggest winners on our website.

Did any of these facts surprise you? Is there anything else you’d like to know? Feel free to ask us in the comments. You can also join the conversation with other players on our Facebook page and get the latest news by following us on Twitter. If you ever have a question you need answered right away, give our customer service team a call between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 877-962-7529.

Hope to see you around – and good luck!