Jackpot makes wedding anniversary even sweeter

Every night, Tom and Laurie Carr of Raleigh have at least one ticket in the Carolina Cash 5 drawing. Tom bought five Quick Pick tickets for the Saturday, Feb. 25 drawing at the Lowes Foods on Louisburg Road in Raleigh, where he is a store manager. That night, he couple was watching the drawing on TV and the numbers called out by the draw show host sounded familiar. Tom paused the screen and turned to his wife.

“Just because of the look on her face,” he recalled, “I asked, ‘How many numbers do we have?’ And she said, ‘We have them all.’” The Carrs said the $794,997 jackpot would help them celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary in June. They plan to take a cruise.

The Carrs' story is the best of the week. The biggest win belongs to another Raleigh resident, Medhanie Abraham. He owns the Smoke For Less on Chatham Street in Cary. That's where he bought an Extreme Millions ticket that won the seven-figure prize. All four $10 million prizes and 18 prizes of $1 million are still in the game. There will also be four second-chance drawings for $1 million.

Another Cash 5 jackpot winner this week is Brunswick County resident Deborah Clemmons of Supply. She bought a ticket for Tuesday's drawing at the Civietown Mini Mart on Holden Beach Road in Shallotte. It was the only one to match all five numbers, winning the $71,173 jackpot.

Three players won $50,000:

- Dakota Mitchell of Hendersonville (Extreme Millions)
- Todd Uriano of Angier (50X The Cash)
- Joseph Whack of Greensboro (March 4 Powerball drawing)

Stephen Knight of Roanoke Rapids won the top prize of $25,000 on a $2 Lucke-Rewards Cash ticket, leaving two more top prizes in the game. And Carlton Mitchell of Pinetops became the first players to win the top prize of $30,000 in the new $2 Triple 7's instant game. That leaves five top prizes remaining.

A dozen players scratched their way to $10,000:

- Rita Bumgarner of Taylorsville (50X The Cash)
- Louis Harrison of Stanfield ("7")
- Miguel Honeycutt of Raleigh ($200 Million Blowout)
- Raffie Jernigan of Hamlet (20X The Cash)
- Patricia Kanupp of Hickory (50X The Cash)
- Norman Martin of New Bern (20X The Cash)
- Clyde Mills of Mount Ulla ("7")
- Auria Morga Ayona of Charlotte (Mega Fortune)
- Steven Needer of Asheville (Ruby Red 7's)
- Jose Ruiz of Raleigh (Ruby Red 7's)
- Rameshkumar Vasoya of Kinston ($4,000,000 Multiplier Spectacular)
- Rosetta Wilson of Old Fort (Jumbo Bucks)

Twenty-three prizes of $5,000 were awarded. Three of the winners are from Charlotte, and two more are from Oak Ridge. The 18 other prizes went to winners from: Connelly Springs, Dallas, Dudley, Durham, Farmville, Fayetteville, King, Midland, Pinebluff, Raleigh, Southern Shores, Spring Lake, Waco, Wallace, Watha, Wilmington, Winston-Salem, and Zebulon.

One last note, heading into the weekend, both the Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots are north of $100 million. So we will be watching with you to find out if we have lucky winners in those drawings. And if you play for the jackpot Saturday night, don't forget to Power Play - you could win an adventure of a lifetime.

Hope you have a great weekend. See you next time.