The Christmas Day Powerball drawing delivered the best present ever to Floyd Cox of Dover, a Vietnam War veteran, when he won a $100,000 prize.

Cox, a retired painter, said his Powerball present took the No. 1 ranking because it was a “once in a lifetime present.” He became the top prize winner in North Carolina in the drawing while two others won a $50,000 prize. In all, 19,667 North Carolina lottery players received a Powerball present, ranging in value from $4 to Cox’s $100,000.

His good luck started Christmas Day when he stopped at the Vanceboro Food Mart on N.C. 43 in Vanceboro and bought a Quick Pick ticket. He said he discovered his present the next morning when he checked his Powerball numbers on the lottery’s smartphone app.

“Like the birth of a new day,” said Cox of his win.

Cox claimed the prize Friday at lottery headquarters. After required state and federal tax withholdings, he took home $70,751. He said he planned to use the money to help his four children and may take a trip to Times Square for the New Year’s Eve celebration.

Cox’s $3 Power Play ticket matched numbers on four of the white balls and the Powerball to win $50,000. The prize doubled when the 2X multiplier was drawn. The ticket beat odds of one in 913,129. Since no one won the Christmas Day jackpot, it now stands at $200 million, or $134.3 million as cash, in Saturday’s jackpot.

Two other players had the same luck as Cox and their $2 tickets won a $50,000 prize. One ticket was sold at the Gas & Go on Carowinds Boulevard in Charlotte and the other at Speedway on N.C. 24 in Newport in Carteret County.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $700 million a year for education. For details on how lottery funds made a difference in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties last year, click on the “Impact” section of the lottery’s website.