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Jun 5, 2006
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Jun 5, 2006
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| Online Phonebook | Sandhills Guide | Business News | National News |
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BY KIRSTEN BEATTIE: Special to The Pilot If you're superstitious, do you go to the lucky store that sold the $200,000 Powerball ticket, or do you avoid it, figuring the odds are not in your favor? The WilcoHess station on Sandhills Boulevard in Aberdeen -- the store that sold the highest-winning ticket so far in the North Carolina Education Lottery -- is hoping for the former.
Roger Schumacher, a district manager for WilcoHess, said it's difficult to predict how people will react.
"Normally, the first is what happens," he said in an interview. But he clarified his stance, saying, "There are so many variables here."
The winner's identity was not known at the time of publication, as that person will have had to report to the NCEL headquarters in Raleigh to claim the winnings.
All that is known is the location of the store where the winning ticket was sold on Tuesday. The sales go through a satellite system, Schumacher said.
"When the winning number comes up, they can pinpoint where it was sold," he said.
At the Aberdeen WilcoHess, people still appear to be buying, and the staff is excited by the win.
"You know we sold the big ticket," store employee Amanda Harris confided to a customer buying a Powerball ticket Friday morning.
While Carlita Thomas, assistant manager of the store, hasn't played Powerball yet, she said she had planned on playing for Saturday's draw.
"I wish I would've won," she said. "I'm excited about it."
Debbie Lassiter of Aberdeen, who came in to buy scratch-off lottery tickets Friday morning, thinks the win is good news for the state.
"I think it's great because it makes people want to play more, so it helps education," she said.
The winning numbers in Wednesday's Powerball drawings were 10, 20, 22, 43, and 49, with 3 as the Powerball and 5 as the Powerplay.
The winner chose the first five numbers, according to the NCEL Web site, which also listed the odds of winning $200,000 as one in 3,563,609.
The winner won't walk away with a $200,000 check. The state levies a 7 percent tax on winnings, and an additional 25 percent will go toward federal taxes, said Pam Walker, communications director for the NCEL.
"Unless the person is a non-U.S. citizen," she said, in which case 35 percent will go toward federal taxes on top of the 7 percent state taxes.
At those rates, the winner will have won $136,000 -- or $116,000 if he or she is not a citizen.
The $200,000 ticket was not the only winner. Three people won $10,000 each, according to the Web site, and 265 people won $100. (Of those, 133 won with four of the five numbers right, and 132 won with three of the five balls and the Powerball right.)
Lassiter says she has a system for choosing Powerball numbers.
"It's superstitious, stuff like birthdays," she said. "You know, you've got nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, grandparents. You just kind of mix it up."
Friday seemed to be Lassiter's lucky day. She left the store, then came right back in when she won $10 on one of her tickets.
"I should keep the cash," she said, but decided to split her winnings on cash and another ticket -- but not the same kind that she'd won on.
"There's not going to be one back to back," she said.
At this time, retailers earn 7 percent commission on each ticket sold, but they do not profit from selling winning tickets. Walker said the NCEL is considering making that possible.
"We are working with our commissioners to see if there might be some type of ‘selling a winning ticket bonus,'" she said. "But nothing has been finalized yet."
Prizes of more than $100,000 must be claimed at headquarters, while prizes valued between $600 and $99,999 can be claimed at official lottery claim centers, located in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Green-ville, Raleigh and Wilmington.
Steve Williams, president of WilcoHess, said he was happy for the winner.
"Well, obviously, it's very exciting for the individual who won," he said. "And I just think probably we were and he [or she] was in the right place at the right time."
Newsroom intern Kirsten Beattie can be reached at (919) 619-4327. |
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