Fayetteville Woman Wins Big With $1 Million Powerball Lottery Ticket
When newlywed April Royal embarked on her Labor Day beach vacation, she didn’t think she’d return with seven figures in her bank account. But that’s exactly what happened when she came home the following Monday with her winning North Carolina Education Lottery Powerball ticket worth $1 million.
According to Royal, she and her husband bought their ticket for just $2 for that Saturday’s drawing from a Circle K in Southport. She “didn’t think about it” until their drive back home the following Monday. They even had to pull over to confirm that they won.
“We’re still in shock!” Royal said in a NCEL press release. “And here I am driving in all of Labor Day traffic.”
Royal’s Powerball lottery win is nothing short of a statistical anomaly. Her ticket matched the numbers on all five white balls to win $1 million, which the odds of happening are 1 in 11.6 million.
Royal took home over $712,501 after federal and state tax withholdings, which is still a hefty sum even if it doesn’t sound quite as cool as taking away the full one million. She and her husband plan to invest, pay off bills, and celebrate their July marriage with a honeymoon getaway using their Powerball lottery winnings.
Ticket sales from draw games make it possible for the lottery to raise $2.5 million a day on average for education. For details on how $23 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Cumberland County in 2022, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section.