Thanksgiving prize: Someone in NC buys $1 million Powerball ticket

Someone who bought a Powerball ticket in North Carolina is celebrating Thanksgiving with a $1 million prize.

The lucky winner bought the $2 ticket at the Fast Mart on South Main Street in Lillington. The ticket matched the numbers on all five white balls to win $1 million. The odds of matching numbers on all five white balls are 1 in 11.6 million.

The $1 million win became the third in North Carolina in less than a week during a Powerball or Mega Millions drawing. The North Carolina winner has 180 days from the drawing to claim the prize.

Wednesday’s Powerball drawing also had a $2 million prize in New York and three additional $1 million prizes in California, Florida and Oregon.

Both Powerball and Mega Millions offer jackpot of more than $300 million during the Thanksgiving holiday.

On Friday, the Mega Millions jackpot stands at $308 million as an annuity or $142.1 million cash. The odds of winning a Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302 million.

The next day, on Saturday, the Powerball jackpot offers a $340 million jackpot as an annuity, or $156.5 million cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Powerball and Mega Millions are two 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 with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. Lottery players now can either buy scratch-offs at a retail location or play digital instants games on the website at nclottery.com and on the app.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.8 million a day on average for education.