Lenoir County man wins $1 million playing Powerball

Matthew Muston of Kinston took a chance on a Powerball ticket in Wednesday’s drawing and won a $1 million prize.

Muston’s $2 ticket matched numbers on all five white balls to win $1 million. He purchased his ticket using the Online Play option on the lottery’s website. He claimed his prize Friday at lottery headquarters in Raleigh and, after required federal and state tax withholdings, took home $710,086.

His prize was the largest won nationally and one of four big wins in North Carolina in the drawing. A Lexington assembly technician won a $100,000 prize. Two other tickets, purchased at the Circle K on Wilmington Highway in Jacksonville and the Gold Star E on Lobelia Road in Vass in Moore County, won $50,000.

Monday’s Powerball drawing offers a $183 million jackpot, or $122.4 million in cash. The odds of winning a Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Powerball is one of four lottery games in North Carolina where players have the option of buying their tickets either through the lottery’s website, or with the NC Lottery Official Mobile App. The other games are Mega Millions, Lucky For Life, and Carolina Cash 5.

Ticket sales from draw games like Powerball make it possible for the lottery to raise more than $900 million per year for education. For details on how $3.5 million raised by the lottery made a difference in Lenoir County in 2020, visit www.nclottery.com and click on the “Impact” section