While sitting at his kitchen table Tuesday morning, Barry Cozart of Hillsborough checked his numbers from Monday night’s $1 billion Powerball drawing and discovered he won $150,000.
He said he immediately yelled up to his wife to get off her conference call for work to come take a look.
“She kept saying ‘Are you serious, are you serious,’” Cozart laughed. “I finally convinced her.”
Cozart, a 59-year-old helicopter pilot, bought his $3 Quick Pick ticket for Monday’s $1 billion Powerball drawing from the Quickie Mart on South Churton Street in Hillsborough. His Power Play ticket matched numbers on four white balls and the Powerball to win $50,000. The prize tripled to $150,000 when the 3X Power Play multiplier hit.
“Usually when it’s over $100 million I start buying tickets,” he said. “I’m still in shock.”
His ticket was one of three purchased in North Carolina that won $150,000 in the drawing. Cozart claimed his prize Tuesday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $106,516.
Wednesday’s Powerball drawing offers a $1.2 billion jackpot, or $596.7 million in cash. The jackpot ranks as the second highest in Powerball’s history and the fourth highest jackpot in U.S. history. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
Powerball is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The other games are Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, and Carolina Cash 5.
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