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news blog > article

'Fab Five' wins $5K playing Carolina Millions

March 16, 2017 Posted by NC Lottery at 12:22 PM
image-photo

A group of friends from Eastern North Carolina plays the lottery together. This week, they won together.

Four of the "Fab Five" are from New Bern, one is from Morehead City. Carol Gunsten, Elizabeth Mesaros, Linda Muller, Claire Wachsmuth, and Joan Zimmer each pitch in $2 a week to play. That $10 bought a Carolina Millions ticket at the Park N Shop store on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in New Bern.

That won the friends of many years many dollars in prize money. $5,000 to be exact, a $1,000 share going to each.

The winners told our claims center staff in Greenville that they're "still looking for the big one." Carolina Millions started with eight top prizes of $1 million and five of them are still in the game.

Please join us in congratulating these lucky ladies. And we hope you have good luck on your next ticket, too.


46 COMMENTS

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3/20/2017 03:52 - Phyllis N.

Thanks, your reply does help me understand the process

3/17/2017 04:38 - Phyllis N.

Wow, there seems to be lots of anger & frustration with the NCEL. I also was wondering about tickets that have been out for years with top prizes still. Like the $2,500 a week for life. But some games have come and gone rather quickly that still had top prizes when they ended. NC Lottery
Good afternoon, Metro311. The lottery ends instant games as soon as all top prizes are won. In other cases, the lottery will end a game when customers stop buying it. It's a consumer-driven decision. If retailers aren't ordering the game because their customer want newer games, then the lottery will bring the game to an end. Usually, that occurs after the game has been for sale 12 months or longer and is 90 percent or more sold. Hope that helps you understand the decisions.

3/17/2017 04:01 - Tony T.

Lucke-Zone said : " As you have noted, only Indiana has a rule barring owners or employees from playing at their store. 80% of retailers in North Carolina - including 99% of corporate chain locations - report having a "No Play on Duty" policy. If you or any other player want to know what a store's policy is before you decide to play the lottery there, we encourage you to do that. "********************************* We have a problem Houston and I for one will be glad if the NCEL takes notice and does something about these store owners/employees apparently gaming the system. NCEL should strongly consider following Indiana's policy. "No play on duty" is a fine line.... only means the employees can clock out then turn around and proceed to go back in the store and " game the system ".

3/17/2017 11:11 - Cathy C.

What does it mean when it says winners to be announced? Why are you waiting to announce it? I play and play and never win a Penney I'm about to give up on mostly playing the 2nd chance ones just to get a 2nd chance for nothing! ???? it's so depressing! NC Lottery
We announce a winner’s name only after he or she has responded to notification and completes the claim process. We understand why folks are eager to find out who won but, until a prize is claimed, we don’t officially have a winner. Anytime you enter a Rewards or game-specific second-chance drawing, you always have a chance to win. But there are hundreds of thousands of members making entries. We wish everyone could win, but it takes luck to win a prize. If you are not having fun, we would recommend taking a break and doing what's best for you.

3/17/2017 10:01 - terry l.

2nd request how long will x10 Last on powerball powerplayNC Lottery
The 10X multiplier is a permanent feature of the game. There is a possibility it will be the Power Play Multiplier only when the jackpot is between $40 million and $150 million. You can read more about Powerball on the How to Play page on our website: http://www.nc-educationlottery.org/powerball_how-to-play.aspx

3/17/2017 10:00 - NC Lottery

@ 87SUPERGLIDE - It was not inferred that all 10 million people in North Carolina play the lottery. The proportion of players of age to play, however, is roughly the same across the state - although the popularity of the lottery varies by region. Retailers are allowed to play the lottery in every state that has one. As you have noted, only Indiana has a rule barring owners or employees from playing at their store. 80% of retailers in North Carolina - including 99% of corporate chain locations - report having a "No Play on Duty" policy. If you or any other player want to know what a store's policy is before you decide to play the lottery there, we encourage you to do that. Without knowing an individual's frequency of play, it is impossible to know how much luck factors into their wins. Here's more information: http://bit.ly/2dxc73r

3/17/2017 09:31 - Mike S.

OK, so let's stop inferring there are 10 million people playing the lottery. According to the census there are only 6 million in NC that are 18 year old and above (which is the minimum age to play). And according to many surveys an average of 46% of the population plays the lottery within any given year, so that's really only about 2.8 million who actively play. Apply that data to retailers using an average family size (4) and number of employees (10), that's ~44K people, or 1.6% of the playing population who are winning much more often than non-retail players. BTW the commission just recently "recommended" that retailers follow the best practices AND recommended they create their own policies regarding purchasing tickets from another store employee instead of making purchases themselves. Makes one wonder...

3/17/2017 09:27 - CONNIE M.

the lottery is not causing proverty, NO ONE forces you to spend your money buying lottery.. thats a choice each and every one of us make.

3/17/2017 08:44 - Larry H.

Congratulations to you ladies make god bless you all ways!

3/17/2017 08:13 - Linda S.

Congratulations Ladies..

3/17/2017 07:49 - jacqueline m.

Congrats to you ladies :)

3/17/2017 07:43 - Nikiya S.

Congratulations

3/17/2017 05:02 - margaret J.

Congratulations on your win Fab 5 waiting on my big pay day also

3/17/2017 01:13 - Angela C.

Enjoy young ladies have a drink For me ?? .live once ??

3/17/2017 01:05 - Elizabeth C.

Congratulations!!..my blessing is coming too??

3/17/2017 12:47 - Shawn R.

Awesome ????????

3/17/2017 12:23 - audrey c.

Wow! Looking great Fab five. Awesome & congrats. Best wishes to you all-

3/17/2017 12:21 - Bobby D.

Congratulations to them ladies. Waiting for million dollar winner.

3/16/2017 11:45 - john h.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL , HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS !

3/16/2017 11:39 - willie b.

Congrats

3/16/2017 11:33 - Natalie W.

Congrats ladies

3/16/2017 11:18 - Charlene W.

Maybe some of the lotto revenue can go towards helping some of the poverty in NC that this is causing

3/16/2017 10:47 - Kicia W.

Congratulations

3/16/2017 10:44 - Charlene W.

In an earlier post-Lucky Zone replied the lotto gives 100% revenue to education, this is false only 30% goes to education and I assume 70%comes from the people that you are scammim=ng, WE not the NCEL pays for education.I'm a BIG googler lol and I research everything and I know how this whole gambling system is rigged.I will stop the obsolete scratch offs and try my luck with mega or power ball,I need your prayers for a miracle and I will wait and see if my dream becomes a reality.Lucky Zone(which they are obviously luckier than I am) responded "the games were originally set up for FUN to help support education,no it wa a way for US to pay for education, me losing my money is not fun, I don't mind me personally donating to education if they need it but it seems to me that I;m supporting it when I'm spending the money hoping I would have a better life one day,boy was I wrong.NC Lottery
100% of lottery profits, not revenue, goes to education. Most lottery revenue goes back to players in prizes.

3/16/2017 09:54 - Charlene W.

Statistics show the NCEL makes a profit in the billions on scratch offs, well I guess so, it also claims it mostly to prey on the "poor" like a disease because it cost one dollar to dream for 2 seconds. all these addictions in our country and the government is turning the people into gamblers by chasing the rainbow with the pot of gold at the end.NC Lottery
Last year the lottery had $2.4 billion in total sales, paid out $1.5 billion in prizes, raised $634 million for education, and local businesses earned $167 million in commissions on ticket sales. $.95 of every $1 spent on a lottery ticket goes back into the state's economy. We talk with players every day about playing responsibly and encourage everyone to only play for fun knowing that it takes luck to beat the odds to win a prize. Games of chance aren't for everyone.

3/16/2017 09:41 - Charlene W.

That 3 yr old tic I made comment about was the $20 $200 million blowout tic game #413 it needs to be thrown out like the rest and give my money back ,selling something that old but yet I go buy it, well gave you my $20 .

3/16/2017 09:37 - Charlene W.

Scratch offs are like "trying to find"the golden egg,except the Goose did not lay one.The ALL scratch off winners are listed by past 180 days ,bet can't count 10 times no winners in Fuquay/Holly springs and most of the list is around $1000 and $5000 not ALOT of big winners ,one person a Derek I believe won total around $20,000 playing SEVERAL tics in a row at DIFFERENT locations supposedly the same day and won between $1,000-$7,000 EACH TIME at EACH PLACE (lumberton area)back to back ,now tell me, this sounds like too much fraud going on with the lotto that it needs be investigated ,there are several people named on the scratch off winners that are repeat winners diff stores "same day"diff amounts,look it up yourselves go down list you will see .

3/16/2017 08:36 - Dawarren H.

Congrats

3/16/2017 07:54 - Michael Y.

LZ funny you are talking about LuckE cash reward tickets. I just set a new personal best using them today.

3/16/2017 07:27 - Denver G.

Ladies you look fabulous & very happy . Congrats to you all. Shout out 2 notsolilbit, CONGRATS! Go slow & don't reinvest all your winnings, give yourselfs a little treat.

3/16/2017 06:37 - Gregory F.

Hopefully my blessing is near.their are lot of things I need to get taken care of before I retire this year Dear GOD I need this blessing bad in the Ahoskie area. Congratulations to the fab 5.I am so happy for you all.

3/16/2017 05:29 - Charlene W.

I'm sorry there is no way 4 one Mill, 1 one MIll and 11 50,000 along with couple hundred $5000 and thousands of $1000 and below are left on a 3yr old tic .I find this highly disturbing and false advertising just to make money off this tic like so many others when it's like spoiled damn milk sitting on the shelf.Most of the scratch off winners from past months and months (u can look this up on site to All winners )have only won around $1000 and according to those records only 2-3 are in Fuquay /Holly springs area ,this has too many names for it to be that sparse with this area ,guess there will never be winners around this part of the woods, Big scam going on to profit off of people's pennies to make dollars ,wish we ALL could get our money back.I don't want to hear hogwash about certain areas had more players and population bs because in my opinion EVERYBODY PLAYS EVERYWHERE !

3/16/2017 05:27 - Jennifer K.

Congratulations ladies and Good Luck on the Carolina Millions!!!

3/16/2017 05:17 - greg s.

how many alternate winners have their been in second chance drawings when a prize is not claimed

3/16/2017 05:13 - Charlene W.

How UNREAL,I buy a Oct 2014 $200 million blow out which only one store in my area carried,fig with all those so called prizes left after 3 yrs that maybe I can win $1 ,it's over 1,000s of $5000 and below and couple million left "SO CALLED"lord and behold I won ZERO not even 8 quarters ,instead of keep profiting on a 3 yr old tic with no winnings left NCEL TAKE IT OFF THE SHELF,I mean come on now is there REALLY that many prizes left ,I would say NOT,no matter what questions or comments are on here NCEL comes back with hogwash lies thinking some ppl are dumb.

3/16/2017 04:07 - Tony T.

Lucke-Zone Replied Lucke-Rewards cash is actually a $2 instant scratch-off game that came out in January. But ticket earns Bonus Lucke-Rewards points, here's more info: http://bit.ly/2iEaJl6 ok thanks, must HAVE been asleep at the wheel...actually just been covered up in too many other things. :(

3/16/2017 03:51 - Hattie M.

Congratulations ladies.

3/16/2017 03:49 - Valerie D.

Congrats!!!

3/16/2017 02:25 - Judy W.

These winners just made my day. Congrats to them all.

3/16/2017 01:41 - Tony T.

Congrats ladies ! Hey LZ, Stephen Travis Knight won $25,000 playing Lucke-Rewards Cash per the NCEL main site ..... Which game was that here ? I think I must have fell asleep at the wheel somewhere. :)NC Lottery
Lucke-Rewards cash is actually a $2 instant scratch-off game that came out in January. But ticket earns Bonus Lucke-Rewards points, here's more info: http://bit.ly/2iEaJl6

3/16/2017 01:37 - Miguel O.

Congratulations!

3/16/2017 12:58 - Michael B.

Thumbs up! Best wishes on your win. Waiting on my lucky day.

3/16/2017 12:44 - Bridgette S.

Congratulations

3/16/2017 12:38 - Crystal M.

Congratulations Fab Five!

3/16/2017 12:35 - Charlene W.

From Eastern NC ,why I'm not surprised

3/16/2017 12:27 - Lorraine P.

I'm looking also ladies and congratulations to you all.

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