Durham resident Marie Ward plans to go on a cruise with her husband after winning a $100,000 Powerball prize.
“My husband and I will go on a nice vacation someplace warm,” she said. “We will probably go on a cruise, maybe to the Caribbean.”
Ward matched the numbers on four white balls and the red Powerball to win $50,000 in the Dec. 20 drawing. The prize on the $3 Power Play ticket doubled to $100,000 when the 2X multiplier hit.
“It was really early in the morning when I found out,” she said. “I woke up my husband to tell him about it. I was very excited.”
She bought her lucky Quick Pick ticket using Online Play on the lottery’s website.
“I don’t buy tickets very often but the jackpot was growing so I just said, ‘Okay I’ll give this a try,’” she recalled.
Ward arrived at lottery headquarters Wednesday to claim her prize and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $71,509.
Wednesday’s Powerball drawing offers a $20 million jackpot, or $10.1 million in cash.
Players can buy Powerball tickets at any lottery retail location or through Online Play on the lottery’s website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
For details on how $13.8 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Durham County last year, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.