Update – North Carolina’s Charles W. Jackson Jr. Claims $350 Million Jackpot
66-year-old Charles W. Jackson Jr. from North Carolina has claimed the big $350 million jackpot of June 1st, 2019. The numbers that brought him this amazing prize were from a fortune cookie that his stepdaughter got in a restaurant two years back.
He’s been playing those same 5 numbers in the Powerball and the Mega Millions ever since, only making changes for the additional number. When Mr. Jackson looked up the Powerball winning numbers after the June 1st draw, he recognized some of them and though he won about $50.000, so he called his wife.
Then, he checked all the numbers and realized he had actually won the jackpot. So, he called her again but still didn’t know just how big the pot had gotten. His wife told him to Google it and there it was, his $350 million prize.
Mr. Jackson already has plans for his money. He is going to take a trip with his family to Vietnam, where his wife is from. They are also going to donate to the Wounded Warrior Project, Shriners Hospital for Children and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Aside from that, he does not foresee any big changes in his future. “I’m still going to wear jeans. Maybe newer ones.”, he said.
We have excellent news from the US Powerball! On Saturday, June 1st, the first draw of the summer, a very lucky player from North Carolina has single-handedly won a huge jackpot worth $350 million! The winning numbers for this fabulous prize were 06-15-34-45-52/08.
Trying to imagine what $350 million looks like? It’s clearly an incredible amount, but to make the image more accurate, it would be a stack of $100 bills the size of the Eiffel Tower, according to the official Powerball website. Unbelievable, n’est pas?
The Power Play number was 02, which means that some lucky winners out there who were inspired enough to add the multiplier to their tickets get double the amount of the secondary prizes that they have won.
The North Carolina player was the only one to match all of the winning main numbers in the draw. While there were no second-prize winners on June 1st, there were over 925.000 in the other prize categories.
The law in North Carolina does not permit lottery winners to stay anonymous, so the new Powerball winner will have to go public when he or she collects the prize. The winner will also have to decide between the annuity option and the lump sum payout.
With the annuity option, he or she could get the entire amount of the jackpot, the $350 million (without the due taxes, of course), but this would be paid over in 30 installments over 29 years. Needless to say, this is not a popular choice with lottery winners.
Most of them choose to collect their prize in a single payment, even if this gets them a smaller amount. For the $350 million pot of June 1st, the cash payout is $223 million (minus taxes). It remains to be seen what the North Carolina winner chooses when he or she comes forward.
In the meantime, there is a new US Powerball jackpot to play for! After the $350 million pot was won, the first prize was rolled back to the initial amount of $40 million, which is a fortune in itself. Buy your tickets for the upcoming Powerball draw and you could be the next big winner!