Lawrence Whipple of Cary tried his luck on a Powerball ticket and won a $150,000 prize.

Whipple’s $3 Power Play ticket matched numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000. That prize tripled to $150,000 when the 3X multiplier was drawn. The odds of matching four white balls and the Powerball in a drawing are 1 in 913,129.

He purchased his winning ticket for the Oct. 16 drawing through Online Play. Whipple claimed his prize Monday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $106,138.

Wednesday’s Powerball jackpot weighs in at $102 million. A winner would have the choice of the $102 million annuity or $71.6 million in cash. Since Aug. 23, Powerball drawings are now held three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Powerball is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets either through the lottery’s website, or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The other games are Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, and Carolina Cash 5.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. For details on how $62.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Wake County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.