N.C. Woman, 82, wins $400,000 in Powerball lottery

Aug 11, 2006, 10:21 pm (18 comments)

North Carolina Lottery

According to North Carolina Lottery officials, a woman's decision to make fruit salad with marshmellows last week may have helped her win a $400,000 Powerball prize.

Big Powerball Jackpot

North Carolina lottery players spent more than $3.7 million dollars last Saturday for a chance to win this past weekend's $204 million Powerball jackpot.

The Powernall jackpot numbers were matched with a single winning ticket in Wisconsin that was bought at a store along the so called "Miracle Mile" since there have been many winners who bought their tickets there.

However, a North Carolina Powerball player did win big, scoring $400,000 with her ticket. Lottery officials say another seven players won $10,000.

$400,000 Winner

Louise Thomas of Jacksonville claimed her prize of $400,000 this week at the North Carolina lottery headquarters.

Lottery officials say the 82 year old had never played the lottery until it came to North Carolina. She bought only two Powerball tickets this weekend as well as some instant scratch-off tickets. She won $25 and $75 playing the instant games, she told the lottery.

"I had stopped at the Circle K on Pine Valley to buy some miniature marshmallows for a fruit salad and decided to buy some lottery tickets," she told lottery officials. "I normally buy my lottery tickets at Johnson Drug Company because they are real nice to me."

Thomas said her money will go immediately into the bank. After that she plans to pay off her daughter's mortgage, she said to lottery officials.

Other N.C. Powerball Winners

Other winners in North Carolina include those people listed below:

Donald Henderson of Winston-Salem
$10,000 at Quality Mart #41 in Kernersville

Tonya McCoy of Raleigh
$10,000 at Jimmy's Food Mart in Willow Spring

Michael Lambert of Statesville
$10,000 at Dollar Mart #1 in Marion

Unknown
$10,000 at Heathers Market in Yanceyville

Unknown
$10,000 at Rose Mart #1 in Henderson

Unknown
$10,000 at Lowe's Food #180 in West Jefferson

Unknown
$10,000 at Quality Mart #39 in Winston-Salem

Lottery Post Staff

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NCPicks

Maybe that's why Mom always told you to eat plenty of fruit.Make mine with mini-marshmellows and big Winners!

bellyache's avatarbellyache

Congrats to her! My mom always makes fruit salad with marshmellows. =)

weshar75's avatarweshar75

Congrats to the winner.  I am trying to hit the 5+0 myself this saturday.  Come on numbers do not fail me now.-weshar75

P.S. I like fruit salad without the marshmellows but I do like them in hot chocolate and sweet potatoes.-weshar75

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

"Thomas said her money will go immediately into the bank. After that she plans to pay off her daughter's mortgage, she said to lottery officials."

 

Aw, what a nice Mom!!

golotto

Reminds me of the August 10, 2005 Powerball draw where the guy in New Mexico needed a gallon of milk so he stopped by the grocery store. He also got a quick pick which turned out to be the very lucky jackpot ticket.

ochoop17

The Powernall jackpot numbers were matched with a single winning ticket in Wisconsin that was bought at a store along the so called "Miracle Mile" since there have been many winners who bought their tickets 

 

What a miracle for mrs. Thomas,better late than never!!

winwoman's avatarwinwoman

US FlagI'd say she is one lucky woman. Let give her a high five.....

Congrats! Hope she enjoy's her winnings. I am
going to win. One day soon. Like real soon!

LckyLary

We have a Lottery here in nj. Plus most other states. Why is NC so special? I rarely go on here and not see a new story about the NC Lottery.

Prediction - for Sunday August 13th:

"Winston-Salem man wins $10 on scratch-off, plans to use his winnings toward Lunch..."

or

"New NC Lottery terminal arrives at the Kwik-E-Mart in Raleigh..."

In nj you'd have to win a quarter of a billion to get the same attention.

guesser's avatarguesser

I know what a marshmallow is, but I've never heard of marshmEllows...

mylollipop's avatarmylollipop

What a Delicious WIN!  Congrats Hyper

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by guesser on Aug 12, 2006

I know what a marshmallow is, but I've never heard of marshmEllows...

Holy mackerel, if you're going to worry about that misspelling, you're going to have a field day correcting 75% of the posts on the forums!

justxploring's avatarjustxploring

Quote: Originally posted by guesser on Aug 12, 2006

I know what a marshmallow is, but I've never heard of marshmEllows...

Sure, it's when you stop at a store and win $400,000.  I'd just sip on some hot chocolate and get very, very mellow.

Franklassgirl30's avatarFranklassgirl30

Quote: Originally posted by LckyLary on Aug 12, 2006

We have a Lottery here in nj. Plus most other states. Why is NC so special? I rarely go on here and not see a new story about the NC Lottery.

Prediction - for Sunday August 13th:

"Winston-Salem man wins $10 on scratch-off, plans to use his winnings toward Lunch..."

or

"New NC Lottery terminal arrives at the Kwik-E-Mart in Raleigh..."

In nj you'd have to win a quarter of a billion to get the same attention.

North Carolina lottery is  very new, that's probably why it gets a lot of attention.  August 30th will make NC lottery 5 months old, and I'm loving it.Wink

nobie23's avatarnobie23

Quote: Originally posted by Franklassgirl30 on Aug 13, 2006

North Carolina lottery is  very new, that's probably why it gets a lot of attention.  August 30th will make NC lottery 5 months old, and I'm loving it.Wink

It's the same thing with any new state that gets the lottery. Tn had a powerball jackpot winner as well as Oklahoma.

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