Not all balls are created equal.
Match five numbers in the Powerball lottery game tonight and you could go home with a jackpot of $1 million or $2 million. Match the Powerball too, and it could mean $325 million over 30 years, or about $213 million up front.
Whatever’s your fancy.
The jackpot is the fourth-largest in the 20-year history of the game, and if no one wins today’s drawing, the next jackpot would set the all-time record.
Willie Herring bought his Powerball ticket Friday — something he does every week. Standing at a checkout counter at the Piggly Wiggly in the Plaza Shopping Center, he said he would be excited if he won, but the first step would be to get proper advice.
“Probably go to a bank or an accountant before I try to do anything about sharing it,” he said. “See what the best approach would be.”
He added, “You want to be charitable with children and church, and people you can help. But you have to look at the whole situation, you know?”
Piggly Wiggly employee Emily Metts said following Wednesday’s winless drawing, Powerball ticket sales have been going at a quick clip.
“It was really busy the other day. I had a lady buy $80 worth of them,” she said.
The customer requested for each $2 ticket to print individually, so Metts had to process the 40-ticket order one-by-one. She said she’s not going to buy a ticket for herself.
Since North Carolina added Powerball to the N.C. Education Lottery in 2006, two state residents won the big prize. Jackie Alston of Halifax won a $74.5 million jackpot in 2006, quitting her job as a corrections office and taking off from the state lottery offices in a limo. Jeff Wilson of Halifax randomly chose a ticket purchased by his father and walked away with a $88.1 million jackpot in 2009.
The Multi-State Lottery Association changed Powerball’s structure in January, upping the price of tickets to $2, or $3 with the power play option. Power play allows participants to double their winnings with the smaller prizes awarded. The pricing change ups the chance for large pay-outs.
"We haven’t seen a (top prize) above $390 million. We envision it can go over $500 million," Terri La Fleur, publisher of gaming journal La Fleur’s said to USA Today in February.
The largest Powerball haul went to eight ConAgra employees in Nebraska in February 2006. They opted for the $177.3 million lump sum instead of the $365 million annuity. Asked what they planed to do with the money, one winner told Nebraska lottery officials he planned to wash his truck.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter at WolfeReports.
Previous Powerball winners in North Carolina:
n Jeff Wilson, Kings Mountain
June 20, 2009
$88.1 million jackpot
Claimed $42.4 million cash
n Jackie Alston, Halifax
Nov. 29, 2006
$74.5 million jackpot
Claimed $36 million cash
Source: N.C. Education Lottery