ONE lucky lottery player will be taking home two times more than expected.
Officials at the North Carolina Education Lottery revealed that a Burlington convenience store, about 35 miles from Greensboro, sold a winning Mega Millions ticket, drawn in Friday's numbers.
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The ticket matched all five white balls drawn, but one option selected by the player doubled their prize, reported local NBC news affiliate WXII.
With the five matching numbers, the ticket was an automatic $1 million winner and then the lottery had to take into account the ticket's megaplier status.
Costing only an initial $3 investment, the megaplier ticket doubled the $1 million prize to a $2 million pot.
Winning on a megaplier ticket to this extent has 1 in 12.6 million odds.
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This prize was the largest won across the country in Friday's drawing.
While the $2 million prize is nothing to sneeze at, the Mega Million's prize jackpot is still up for grabs.
Presently, the winner's identity has yet to be announced, but by North Carolina Education Lottery policy (NCEL), the winner will have to come forward to reveal their identity.
When the prize is claimed, the winner's name, city/county, and the prize amount are made public unless the player has a valid legal order protecting their identity from being known.
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The winner has 180 days to claim their prize, giving them the proper time to get their affairs in order and prepare for reactions to their big win.
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The pot has grown to $148 million as an annuity or $67.8 million lump sum payout - the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are 1 in 302 million.
TAX HAPPY PRIZE REDUCTION
All lottery winnings are subject to federal and state taxes at varying rates.
Patricia Brunson, also of North Carolina, won $10 million on ascratch-off ticketshe had picked up for $50, only to lose nearly half of it to taxes.
After federal and state taxes were taken from the amount, she ended up taking home around $4.3 million.
Wilbur Grant was forced to give up over $570,000 of his $1 million prize, taking home $429,003.
Lottery prizes: Lump sum vs Annuity
Lottery winners throughout the US must make a tough decision about how they want to claim their prizes.
What is a lump sum payment?
- Lottery winners can accept a one-time cash payout.
- Although a winner would lose a chunk of their payout to taxes, they would likely lose more over time with annual payouts.
What are annual payments?
- Installments are paid out as one immediate payment followed by a series of annual payments.
- This guarantees money to come in for years or even decades, but some winners worry tax rates may increase over time.
"To invest better you need to not only choose a good, low-cost, diversified portfolio," said Charles Weeks, the founding partner of Barrister, viaUSA Today.
"You will also need to make sure you control your emotions in good markets and bad."
Dr. Josh McConkeyscored big playing the Cash 5 game from theNorth Carolina, winning a $1.5 million prize.
He was forced to split it with another winner, and after taxes banked $541,670.
InNorth Carolina, the tax rate on lottery winnings is 5.25%; the federal tax on a jackpot is 24%.
Revenue brought in be the lottery in North Carolina is directly funneled into education efforts in the state.
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"So far, the fun of playing lottery games has raised more than $10 billion for education in North Carolina since the lottery started. Last year alone, the lottery raised over $1 billion," reads the NCEL website.
Funding is split between multiple projects including funding preschools for disadvantaged families, updating school construction, setting up college scholarships, and paying educators salaries.
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