N.C. Powerball lottery winner claims share of jackpot worth $188 million

Feb 24, 2015, 6:04 pm (49 comments)

Powerball

Second of three winning tickets claimed from $564 million jackpot draw

Includes video report

RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina woman holding one of three winning tickets for the Feb. 11 Powerball drawing has cashed in her ticket.

Marie Holmes' lottery ticket matched all five white balls and the Powerball in the drawing.  The winning numbers were 11, 13, 25, 39 and 54, with Powerball number 19.

(See Three tickets to split massive $564 million Powerball jackpot, Lottery Post, Feb. 12, 2015.)

She was presented with a $188 million check, but opted for the lump sum payout which is worth $127 million.

The single mother has four children, ages 7, 4, 3, and 9 months.

"I scared my kids because I was jumping up and down. They were running away from me," she said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

She says some of this money will be used for her children's educations.

"This is a going to make a huge difference for them," she said. "They will be able to go to school and not have to pay for it. "

Holmes says she also plans on continuing her own education in the nursing field.

Some of her friends and family will be taken care of as well.

The mother of four has been living with seven other people in one home.

"It wasn't comfortable but we made do," she said.

She says she is going to make sure those people are taken care of.

"Everyone in that household is going to have their own place," said Holmes.

While the woman says winning "still doesn't feel real" she says one thing is for sure: "It's not going to change the person I am."

Holmes said that before winning the jackpot she had worked at McDonald's and Walmart, but recently had to quit to care for her young children.

She is one of three people who won the $564 million jackpot.  The winner from Puerto Rico claimed their prize anonymously a week after the drawing, while the Texas winner has not yet come forward to claim their share.

VIDEO: Watch raw interview video

KFOR, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

ThatScaryChick's avatarThatScaryChick

She seems like a lovely person and from her other interviews it seems like she's getting everything squared away with her financial advisers. Congrats to Marie Holmes!

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by ThatScaryChick on Feb 24, 2015

She seems like a lovely person and from her other interviews it seems like she's getting everything squared away with her financial advisers. Congrats to Marie Holmes!

I agree, lovely is the word that came to my mind too.  A big congrats for a winner who needed the money, and seems to have a good head on her shoulders and a wonderful perspective on life.

Original Bey's avatarOriginal Bey

One thing that stands out and I do commend her for is that she keeps her children central in her life before and after the win.

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Skeptical time will spin a most curious tale soon enough .....

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

If she was to spend $1M a year, which I don't know how anybody can, she will need more than 60 years to spend it all. She has a job that most of us would love. Cheers

sully16's avatarsully16

Congrats Marie, enjoy!

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

I feel good that a winner is someone who really needs the money. We all hope to win, but if I can't win, I really like seeing someone that has a tough life win.

dallascowboyfan's avatardallascowboyfan

Congratulations Marie.  Thumbs Up

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Quote: Originally posted by dallascowboyfan on Feb 24, 2015

Congratulations Marie.  Thumbs Up

I Agree! ... Party

In her first interview, Marie stated that she gave her uncle money to purchase her ticket with.  Then in a later interview with ABC Network, the anchor asked if her mother purchased the ticket and Marie said yes.  Perhaps Marie is distracted by her big win, and isn't hearing/focusing ... I want to enjoy being in that position this month.

Drenick1's avatarDrenick1

Quote: Originally posted by HaveABall on Feb 24, 2015

I Agree! ... Party

In her first interview, Marie stated that she gave her uncle money to purchase her ticket with.  Then in a later interview with ABC Network, the anchor asked if her mother purchased the ticket and Marie said yes.  Perhaps Marie is distracted by her big win, and isn't hearing/focusing ... I want to enjoy being in that position this month.

I believe her mother had purchased the ticket from her uncle at the store he worked at.

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Quote: Originally posted by Drenick1 on Feb 24, 2015

I believe her mother had purchased the ticket from her uncle at the store he worked at.

Oh, thanks Drenick1. See Ya!

noise-gate

Wishing this lady nothing but the Best in life- had we won, we would be hoping others would be saying the same for us..

Party

VenomV12

We can fool ourselves all day that she is a great person and at face value she seems nice and is saying all the right things, but the reality is she is very young, only worked at Walmart for poverty wages yet thought it was a good idea to have 4 children already and if I was a betting man I would bet there are multiple fathers involved. The fact is she makes bad choices in life and that probably is not going to change anytime soon. When people tend to get a lot of money at one time, like pro-athletes do, they seem to think that also makes them financial geniuses and subsequently they think they can make even more money and replicate the success and are easy prey for those in the financial industry and other charlatans in general. The church, her family, friends, boyfriends, lawyers and lawsuits, financial advisors, casinos and everyone else will pick away at that money until it is all gone. I mean look at her, she came out right away and wanted everyone to know she won, not bright at all, not a good sign. 

How many people have we watched that made $50 million a fight or had 9 figure contracts that still went broke? The amount of money is irrelevant, you can hand some people a billion dollars and they will still lose it all. I have seen firsthand how a $100 million plus contract gets eaten away, it's not nearly as hard as you think to blow through that kind of money, especially when you are taking care of 20 plus people and their families. Right off the bat her church, specifically her reverend is going to get a nice fat check for probably 10% of her money for doing nothing but being in the right place at the right time. He'll probably buy a gold plated Rolls Royce and about 10 mink furs. 

It always amazes me how people are  fooled by the personas people exude at press conferences and believe what people say as the truth, but I shouldn't, the amount of awful politicians out there that were elected show that the average person isn't that bright. 

I would love to believe that the 26 year old Walmart worker, single mother of 4 children will all of a sudden become a financially savvy person, but I am not naive.

Nikkicute's avatarNikkicute

Quote: Originally posted by VenomV12 on Feb 25, 2015

We can fool ourselves all day that she is a great person and at face value she seems nice and is saying all the right things, but the reality is she is very young, only worked at Walmart for poverty wages yet thought it was a good idea to have 4 children already and if I was a betting man I would bet there are multiple fathers involved. The fact is she makes bad choices in life and that probably is not going to change anytime soon. When people tend to get a lot of money at one time, like pro-athletes do, they seem to think that also makes them financial geniuses and subsequently they think they can make even more money and replicate the success and are easy prey for those in the financial industry and other charlatans in general. The church, her family, friends, boyfriends, lawyers and lawsuits, financial advisors, casinos and everyone else will pick away at that money until it is all gone. I mean look at her, she came out right away and wanted everyone to know she won, not bright at all, not a good sign. 

How many people have we watched that made $50 million a fight or had 9 figure contracts that still went broke? The amount of money is irrelevant, you can hand some people a billion dollars and they will still lose it all. I have seen firsthand how a $100 million plus contract gets eaten away, it's not nearly as hard as you think to blow through that kind of money, especially when you are taking care of 20 plus people and their families. Right off the bat her church, specifically her reverend is going to get a nice fat check for probably 10% of her money for doing nothing but being in the right place at the right time. He'll probably buy a gold plated Rolls Royce and about 10 mink furs. 

It always amazes me how people are  fooled by the personas people exude at press conferences and believe what people say as the truth, but I shouldn't, the amount of awful politicians out there that were elected show that the average person isn't that bright. 

I would love to believe that the 26 year old Walmart worker, single mother of 4 children will all of a sudden become a financially savvy person, but I am not naive.

I Agree! I see what your saying! Having that many kids at such a young age is not good.

           The youngest is 9 months, that means she continued to make bad decisions but this is

           nothing new, there are many, in fact too many females living the same way

           When your in your 20's those are the best years of your life and they shouldn't be wasted on

           out of wedlock children. Congrats and hopefully things will work out for her.

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