Powerball player kept checking ticket after big NC win. ‘It wasn’t registering’
A Powerball player scored a huge prize — and couldn’t stop looking at his winning ticket.
“It just, it didn’t compute,” Michael Mica told the North Carolina Education Lottery in a May 20 news release. “I had to keep checking it because it wasn’t registering.”
Mica had a lot to celebrate after stopping at a Shell gas station in Lexington, a roughly 20-mile drive south from Winston-Salem. While there, he bought a $3 Quick Pick ticket, meaning a lottery machine chose the numbers at random.
It turns out, his ticket matched all but one number picked in the May 17 drawing, making it worth $50,000. Since he spent an extra dollar on the Power Play option, his prize rose to $100,000, McClatchy News reported.
Though Mica got much richer, his ticket missed the $125 million jackpot prize by one number. His win came on a lucky night, when three other Powerball players in North Carolina scored $50,000 prizes, results show.
“I checked the website and saw that a couple people won in the drawing,” Mica told lottery officials. “Of course, you always hope you are the one to win.”
Mica, who lives in Lexington, kept $71,751 after taxes. He plans to put some of his prize money toward bills and add the rest to his savings.
“It will definitely help to have a rainy-day fund,” the lucky winner said.
What to know about Powerball
To score the jackpot in the Powerball, a player must match all five white balls and the red Powerball.
The odds of scoring the jackpot prize are 1 in 292,201,338.
Tickets can be bought on the day of the drawing, but sales times and price vary by state.
Drawings are broadcast Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:59 p.m. ET and can be streamed online.
Powerball is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This story was originally published May 21, 2025 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Powerball player kept checking ticket after big NC win. ‘It wasn’t registering’."
