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RALEIGH – Grace Landon of Albemarle welcomed an interruption to her daily soap operas when she realized she won a $1 million prize.
A regular Powerball player for 20 years, Landon bought her lucky $2 Quick Pick ticket on New Years’ Eve from Friendly Mart on N.C. Highway 24-27 West Bypass in Albemarle. She matched all five white balls in the New Year’s Day Powerball drawing to win $1 million.
“He didn’t believe me at first,” Landon recalls of her husband of 30 years, Hank. After double-checking the numbers online, the couple quickly paused “The Young and the Restless” on TV to get in the car.
She arrived a few hours later at lottery headquarters in Raleigh to claim her winnings. After required federal and state tax withholdings, she headed home to Albemarle with $717,501.
Retired from working at a plant nursery, Landon said she may add a plant or two to her collection with her winnings. She also plans to buy a house and pay off expenses, including her grandson’s car.
Powerball is one of six draw games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets at a retail location or with Online Play through the lottery’s website or the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Monday’s jackpot is $220 million as an annuity or $98.4 million cash.
The odds of matching the numbers on the five white balls as Landon did are 1 in 11.7 million. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.
For details on how $4.4 million raised by the lottery made a difference for Stanly County education programs last year, visit www.nclottery/education.