Group call reveals win was worth 200 times more than expected

By Kate Northrop

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A group of colleagues walked into their workplace with pep in their step after finding out they collectively won a $100,000 lottery prize in Powerball.

Six co-workers are all grins after finding out their $500 Powerball lottery prize won in North Carolina was worth $100,000.

The group call themselves "The Money Team," and it consists of Dwane Heyward of Georgetown, South Carolina, Keshia Gary of Southern Pines, Thomasine Hairston of Bennettsville, South Carolina, Saad Pressley of Rockingham, Genesis McLaurin of Hamlet, and Kaprise McLean of Laurinburg.

"The Money Team" will play the lottery together as a group and share their winnings, they told the North Carolina Lottery.

Heyward was the one to buy the group's Powerball ticket from Walmart on North Tyron Street in Charlotte for the Aug. 23 drawing. Just as the group plays together, they simultaneously discovered the win together.

After scanning the ticket using the Lottery's mobile app, a notification alerted Heyward that the group's ticket had won. She initially thought that it was only worth $500, so she put her fellow co-workers on a group call, and together, they figured out that it was actually a $100,000 prize.

"We didn't believe it until it happened," Heyward said to Lottery officials.

The ticket matched four white ball numbers and the red Powerball number in the Aug. 23 drawing to win a $50,000 prize. However, the group added the Power Play option to their play for an extra dollar, doubling the prize to $100,000 when the drawn multiplier was 2.

On Sept. 2, "The Money Team" visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh as a group to claim the prize. After taxes, their take-home came to $71,751, which they'll share.

The winning numbers in the Aug. 23 Powerball drawing were 11, 14, 34, 47, and 52, with Powerball number 18.

The most recent Powerball run that culminated in a historic $1.8 billion jackpot ended after the Sept. 6 drawing produced two jackpot-winning tickets: one in Texas and the other in Missouri. The Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Monday, Sept. 8 was reset to $20 million following the win.

Powerball is currently offered for sale in 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Drawings are Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Tickets cost $2 each.

Powerball lottery results are published within minutes of the drawing at USA Mega (www.usamega.com). The USA Mega website provides lottery players in-depth information about the United States' two biggest multi-state lottery games, Mega Millions and Powerball.

(Click to display full-size in gallery)Six co-workers are all grins after finding out their $500 Powerball lottery prize won in North Carolina was worth $100,000.