Joseph Surcy of Grover powered his way to a big win in Saturday’s Powerball drawing, capturing a $200,000 prize.
Surcy’s $3 Power Play ticket matched numbers on four of the white balls and the Powerball to win $50,000. His prize quadrupled to $200,000 when the 4X multiplier was drawn in the drawing.
He said he began buying Power Play tickets after he noticed in a previous Powerball drawing that he could have won $500 instead of $100 if he had paid the extra dollar. He bought his lucky ticket at Dhiya Food Mart on South Post Road in Shelby.
Surcy discovered his good luck at 2 a.m. Sunday morning when he woke up and checked his numbers against the winning numbers. He said he woke up his wife to share the news.
“Just happy,” said Surcy on Monday as he collected his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh. “Still shaking.”
After required state and federal tax withholdings, Surcy took home $141,501. He said he wanted to buy his wife a new computer to help her start an Etsy site, get a new bike for his grandson, take a vacation, and then save the rest.
No one won Saturday’s Powerball jackpot. The jackpot climbs to $22 million as an annuity prize or $17.6 million cash for Wednesday’s drawing.
Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $725 million per year for education. For details on how $6.1 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cleveland County in 2019, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.