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Orange County man enjoys “fluke” $100,000 Powerball win

May 20, 2026 Posted by NC Lottery at 2:35 PM
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When Robert Goss of Chapel Hill got a notification that he won a prize playing Powerball, he never expected that he won $100,000.

“I thought maybe it was $8 or $16,” he laughed.

Goss bought his lucky $3 ticket for the May 13 drawing using Online Play. He matched the numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000. Because he bought a Power Play ticket, his prize doubled to $100,000 when the 2X multiplier hit. He said he told his wife right away.

“She was definitely in shock,” Goss recalled.

He arrived at lottery headquarters Wednesday to claim his winnings and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $72,011.

“This is kind of a fluke thing,” Goss said. “But it’s always a good time to win $100,000.”

He plans to use his winnings to pay bills and invest.

Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot stands at a $113 million annuity or $49.6 million in cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Powerball is one of six draw 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 the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.


3 COMMENTS

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5/21/2026 07:09 - Steven B.

when i win i am going to say i am going to blow it all,every last penny!i am going to live it up!fun fun fun

5/20/2026 04:32 - Angela A.

congrats! Still waiting on my "Fluke"! Winning a Jackpot when I thought I was playing DEMO Mode or Playing a scratch off because I found a penny on heads! @NCEL on todays Pick 3 how do the same number repeat and the FireBall the same number too! 2026, May 16 3 2 2 3 Fireball 2026, May 20 3 2 2 3 Fireball That is a whole lot of luck...seems very rigged to me.NC Lottery
Hi Angela, our team has strict security procedures in place to ensure that every set of numbers has the exact same chance of being drawn in every drawing. This includes using a randomly selected ball machine and randomly selected ball set during each different drawing. Every combination has a 1 in 1,000 chance of being drawn in each and every drawing. In games where you can choose numbers from 0-9, it’s no surprise that we see similar patterns come up every so often.

5/20/2026 03:12 - Kimberly D.

NCEL, with repeats straight up and numbers that has fallen with the fireball in Pick4. 322 and 1240 came out with the fireball on May 12th smh LOL!

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