As North Carolinians play to win a major Powerball jackpot Saturday night, a group of 19 bowlers took aim at the game’s six numbers, knocked down five, and won $50,000.
“With everybody playing together, it was like, ‘Hey let’s take a shot at this thing,” Marquis Poteat, a spokesman for the group, said.
The 19 bowlers, mostly from the Triangle region, have bowled together for years. They decided to add Powerball to their team play and took on the name, Bowling for Dollars.
“It’s just really the camaraderie behind it,” Poteat said. “It brings together a lot of people through bowling just coming from different walks of life.”
The winning $2 ticket matched numbers on four white balls and the Powerball in the Sept. 16 drawing to win $50,000. The lucky ticket came from Friends Mart on Proctor Street in Zebulon.
The group claimed the prize Wednesday at lottery headquarters, splitting the $50,000 prize 19 ways. The group members had different ideas as to how they would spend their winnings, but all agreed that a portion would go toward more bowling fun together.
Saturday’s Powerball drawing offers a $960 million jackpot, or $441.4 million in cash. The jackpot represents the fourth largest in the history of the Powerball game.
Poteat said the group will continue to play Powerball together and will hopefully be back soon if they win the record jackpot.
The Powerball jackpot has gone 30 consecutive drawings without a winner. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
Players can buy Powerball tickets at any lottery retail location or through Online Play on the lottery’s website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.
Check out the video below of the group celebrating their big win.
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