Trio of $1 million wins among nine big prizes this week

If you want to surprise someone, ask them how many times they think a lottery prize of $1 million or more is won in the span of a year. Five? Higher. Ten? More. When they hear you tell them that 55 times last year we awarded a prize of $1 million or more, they just might be impressed.

How do we get to such a big number? With weeks like this one. Three prizes of $1 million were claimed in the last seven days alone. And those were among nine prizes of $100,000 or more! Here's a closer look.

Crossword Money Multiplier ticket spells $100,000: Larry Smith won the prize after buying a lucky $5 ticket at the Sabaa Grocery and Grill on Tarboro Street in his hometown of Rocky Mount.

Stranger's lucky pick helps co-workers win $100,000: Three co-workers from a pharmaceutical company in Johnston County won after asking a customer in the Rose Mart on West Raleigh Road in Wilson to pick a ticket for them. He chose 10th Anniversary Millions. It turned out to be a lucky choice for Shamia Kirk of Wilson, Diane Hinnant of Clayton and Jonathan Barefoot of Benson.

Jackpot! Gastonia man hits Cash 5 jackpot for $124,696: William Hill Jr. bought a Quick Pick ticket at the Ingo Express on Lowell Behesda Road in Gastonia. And it won the jackpot in the June 5 drawing.

Truckdriver stops for tomato juice, gets $200,000 too: James Trotter of Archdale has been driving trucks for 48 years. And sometimes you get thirsty. He stopped at the Citgo Fuel Center on U.S. 70 in Newton for tomato juice. While he was there, he picked up a 20X The Cash scratch-off that turned out to be worth $200,000.

In a dash, lifetime motorsports enthusiast wins $250,000: Thanks to a $250,000 Fortune ticket, in less time than it takes to make a pit stop, Dale Fogleman won a quarter million dollars. He was outside the Kangaroo Express on Swannanoa Avenue in his hometown of Liberty when he scratched off the ticket.

Wilkes County man scratches off top prize on $300,000 Jackpot ticket: Joseph Bumgarner of Wilkesboro bought a $5 ticket for the game at the P&J Express on U.S. 421 in his hometown. It turned out to make him a top prize winner. One $300,000 prize is still in the game.

Pitt County UPS worker wins $1 million ‘dream’ lottery prize: Cameron Grice of Winterville says he doesn't play the lottery too often. But he's glad he bought a 10th Anniversary Millions ticket at the Sheetz on County Home Road in Greenville: It turned out to be worth $1 million.

$1 million lottery win leaves Forsyth County man standing in shock: Another lucky 10th Anniversary ticket meant a $1 million win for Tyrone Carethers of Winston-Salem. He bought the winning ticket at the Speedway on Lewisville Road in Clemmons.

New Ruby Red 7's ticket creates instant millionaire in Harnett County: Ann Marie Ennis of Dunn decided to buy the ticket because it was new. At first she thought she won $10,000 - but then realized she won $1 million. She bought the winning ticket at the Kangaroo Express on Erwin Road in Dunn.

And that's not even close to all the big wins we had this week. A pair of Cash 5 players who split the $153,882 jackpot in the June 1 drawing each claimed a 76,941 share. The winners are Roy Taylor of Charlotte and Carolyn Thompson of Hillsborough.

Four players who won $50,000 playing Powerball collected their winnings:

- Jerry Frady of Franklin (June 1)
- Kenneth Tysinger of Greensboro (June 1)
- James Rose of Kill Devil Hills (May 18)
- Russell Lee-Belshaw of Charlotte (March 2)

Two more claimed $30,000 prizes. Rajwinder Chahal of High Point won playing Did I Win? and Jackie Clanton of Greensboro won on a Libery Bills ticket.

Eight players scratched their way to $10,000 wins:

- Costel Popan of Granite Falls ($4,000,000 Multiplier Spectacular)
- Williams Mims of Belhaven (50X The Cash)
- John Johnson of Lenoir (10th Anniversary Millions)
- Bertha Randolph of Kinston (Millionaire 7's)
- Henry Wooten of Winston-Salem ($4,000,000 Multiplier Spectacular)
- Jacqueline White of Ahoskie (Jumbo Bucks)
- Mary Spears of Lillington ($200 Million Blowout)
- Hazel Latham of Burlington (Ruby Red 7's)

There were 15 prizes of $5,000 claimed this week. Two of the winners are from Charlotte. The others are from Roxboro, Boone, Burlington, Candler, Fayetteville, Gastonia, Lake Junaluska, Mooresville, Pittsboro, Raeford, Taylorsville, Wilmington, and Winterville.

If you add it all up, that's 40 wins of $5,000 to $1 million to push the total for the week to $31.6 million statewide.

Before we sign off there are big jackpots up for grabs. Heading into Friday's drawing, the Mega Millions jackpot annuity is $280 million, worth $186.5 million cash. Then in Saturday's Powerball drawing there is another $141 million annuity on the line. The lump sum is worth $93.8 million.

So there's your week in lottery wins. Until next time, we hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend. See you soon here in the Lucke-Zone.