Powerball jackpot winner comes forward to claim the big prize

By Steve Ashfield

onJun 07, 2019

Powerball jackpot winner comes forward to claim the big prize

Last week’s Powerball jackpot winner is from North Carolina. The ticket was the only one to match all six numbers in last Saturday’s drawing, winning $344.6 million.

Charles W Jackson Jr is from Parkton and can’t believe how lucky he’s been. He didn’t realise he was the big-time winner until Tuesday morning. Even then, when he checked his ticket, he thought he’d only won $50,000.

Largest ever Powerball win in North Carolina

The winning Powerball ticket matched numbers 6, 15, 34, 45 and 52 plus Powerball 8. It is the largest Powerball prize winning ticket to come from North Carolina.

Mr Jackson called his wife after checking his ticket and called his wife. “I said I think I won at least $50,000” he said. After he hung up, he checked the ticket again, “I called her back and said, ‘Look, I won the whole thing.’”

He had to use Google to check the results

His wife was dubious. “She said, ‘Well how much is the whole thing?’ I said I don’t know, I just played.” His wife told him to Google it, and that’s how our North Carolina winner realised he’d won $344.6 million.

The Powerball jackpot winner claimed his prize at lottery headquarters on Tuesday night. “It hasn’t washed completely over me yet,” he said.

He’ll still wear jeans but he’ll buy new ones

Plans for the prize include donating to three charities and taking a trip to Vietnam, where his wife is from. “I don’t know what to do with most of it,” he said. “I’m going to try not to change my life.”

The winning ticket comes from Carlie C’s IGA grocery store in Hope Mills. The lucky store will receive a bonus worth $50,000 for selling the jackpot winner. “It was flooring to hear the news,” said one of the store’s managers, Jean Floyd.

“I never expected to win,” the Powerball jackpot winner said. “I just got lucky.”

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