When the player is away, the ticket's there to stay

By Kate Northrop

WARRENTON, N.C. — A North Carolina man was welcomed home from his trip to New York by a $1 million Powerball lottery prize.

One North Carolina lottery player could not ask for a better "welcome home" present than to be greeted by a $1 million Powerball prize waiting patiently for him.

George Boston of Warrenton was away from home when the July 25 Powerball drawing took place, but he had purchased a ticket at Tobacco Plus on East Macon Street in Warrenton leading up to it.

He was out-of-state on a trip to New York and did not have the ticket on him to check the results, rather it was sitting at home waiting for his return.

"When I came back, I heard that there was a winner in Warrenton," Boston told the North Carolina Lottery. "I looked at my ticket on the table and went, 'Oh wow, I got a match.'"

That was putting it lightly. His $2 ticket matched all five white ball numbers 3, 4, 24, 36, and 47 to win the game's second-tier prize of $1 million, beating the odds of 1 in 11.68 million. Had he matched the red Powerball number 17 as well, he would have won the jackpot, which was $612.7 million at the time.

Boston dialed his wife and children, but his calls went unanswered. His daughter was the first to call him back. He picked up exclaiming, "I'm a winner! I'm a winner!"

The lucky winner visited Lottery headquarters in Raleigh on Aug. 14 to claim his prize, which awarded him a total of $720,101 after federal and state taxes.

The next Powerball annuity jackpot estimate for the drawing on Saturday, Aug. 21 currently stands at $68 million.

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.