North Carolina – Thomas Pharr of Charlotte said he and his wife have wanted to fix up their home for a while and, after winning a $150,000 Powerball prize, they can make that a reality.
“We’ve been talking about renovating our house and lo and behold this happens,” Pharr said.
Pharr, 67, bought his lucky $3 Power Play ticket for the Sept.17 drawing. He matched numbers on four white balls and the Powerball to win $50,000. The prize tripled to $150,000 when the 3X Power Play multiplier hit
“I had to look at it two or three times to double-check all the zeroes and then I had my wife look at it,” he said. “We were surprised and excited.”
Pharr bought the Quick Pick ticket using Online Play on the lottery’s website.
"Forty dollars was the most I ever won prior to this,” Pharr laughed.
He claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $106,516.
This week, both the Powerball and Mega Million games offer jackpots topping $400 million.
Monday’s Powerball drawing offers a $401 million jackpot, or $205.4 million in cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million. Tuesday’s Mega Millions jackpot stands at $445 million, or $226 million in cash. The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302 million.
Players can buy their Powerball or Mega Millions tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App.
Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. For details on how $62.6 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Mecklenburg County in 2021, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.