A lottery player who rarely buys Powerball tickets said he was drawn in by the rising jackpot — then he ended up hitting a big prize himself.
Chad McLamb has now claimed his windfall after winning $150,000 in the Aug. 25 Powerball drawing, the North Carolina Education Lottery announced August 29.
“I was shaking,” he told lottery officials.
The Harnett County man said he hadn’t played Powerball in a long time.
“I usually only buy them when the jackpot gets big,” he told lottery officials. “I know it hasn’t been this big since last year.”
The jackpot for the August 25 Powerball drawing was $777 million, but it’s since risen to $1.1 billion for the September 1 drawing, records show.
He bought his ticket at Bass Country Store in Coats, then he matched four white balls and the red Powerball to win a third-tier prize that’s normally $50,000, according to the N.C. Education Lottery. But he spent an extra dollar on Power Play, which tripled his prize.
“This is perfect timing for us,” McLamb told lottery officials. “It’ll make everything a lot more comfortable.”
McLamb’s winnings came out to $107,626 after taxes. He said he plans to use the money to buy a car and do home renovations.
Another Powerball player in North Carolina won $150,000 in the Aug. 30 drawing, just narrowly missing the $1.03 billion jackpot, McClatchy News reported.
Coats is about a 30-mile drive south from Raleigh.
What to know about Powerball
To score the jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
By OLIVIA LLOYD/McClatchy News
Olivia Lloyd is a National Real-Time Reporter for McClatchy covering the Southeast. She is based in South Florida and graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Previously, she has worked for Hearst DevHub and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
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