Mega Millions and Powerball jackpots are approaching a combined $1 billion, and North Carolina Lottery players can still get in on the action for Monday’s Powerball and Tuesday’s Mega Millions draws.
The Powerball jackpot sits at $440 million, a $230.5 million cash value. Mega Millions comes in at $343 million, or a $180.1 million cash value.
Tickets for Monday night’s Powerball drawing can be purchased statewide at North Carolina Education Lottery retailers. North Carolina lottery players also are lucky to be in one of 10 states plus Washington, D.C., to offer state-regulated online lottery through the NC Education Lottery website.
June already a strong month for the NC Lottery
NC lottery layers have won eight prizes ranging from $10,000 to $1 million playing Mega Millions and Powerball this month, according to the NC Education Lottery.
“We have seen a lot of big wins already on both Mega Millions and Powerball in the month of June,” Mark Michalko, executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery said in a news release.
Last Wednesday’s Powerball drawing saw two players win $50,000 by matching four white balls and the red Powerball. Those winners purchased tickets through retail vendors at the following locations:
- Dowdle Mountain Pit Stop on Dowdle Mountain Road in Franklin
- Speedway on Gallimore Dairy Road in Greensboro
With a Monday draw time of 10:59 p.m. for Powerball and 11 p.m. Tuesday for Mega Millions, players will have until about an hour before the draw to get their tickets.
No multi-state jackpots for the Tar Heel State since 2019
It was four years ago, June 1, 2019, when North Carolina had its last Powerball jackpot winner. Charles Jackson Jr. of Raleigh purchased his winning ticket at the Carlie C’s in Hope Mills using numbers he got from a fortune cookie given to him by his stepdaughter.
Jackson became the biggest lotto winner in North Carolina Lottery history when he pulled in the mammoth $344.6 million jackpot.
We have to go back farther for Mega Millions. Almost 12 years ago, to Sept. 30, 2011, to be exact. That was when the Jones family bought a winning ticket for a $114 million Mega Millions jackpot at a Kangaroo Express in Greenville.
The Greenville family held one of two winning tickets – the other came from California. They split the jackpot, claiming $57 million and taking the lump sum of $42.2 million over the annuity.
While a North Carolina Mega Millions drought of more than a decade may signal a winner is due, let’s not lose sight of the actual odds.
The chances of hitting the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302 million. Powerball is slightly better: 1 in 292 million.