Dennis Francis of Gastonia used the numbers from his birthday to play Powerball and they won him a $100,000 prize.
“I was like, “Wow, this is wonderful,’” Francis said.
Francis, 62, said the winning numbers came directly from his birth date. After he realized he won, he roused his wife to tell her the good news.
“I said “Wake up, I just won $100,000,” Francis said. “She said, ‘You’re lying,’ so I showed her the numbers and she woke straight up.”
Francis bought the $3 Power Play ticket using Online Play on the lottery’s website. It matched numbers on four white balls and the Powerball to win $50,000 in the Aug. 20 drawing. The prize doubled to $100,000 when the 2X Power Play multiplier hit.
“It’s nice now to have some extra dollars in case of emergency,” Francis said.
Francis claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $71,049. He said he would use the money to pay off his car and save the rest as emergency funds.
Monday’s Powerball drawing offers a $124 million jackpot, or $69.7 million in cash. 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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