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A woman in North Carolina is looking forward to a fun and warm vacation away from the growing winter cold after she scored a huge win in a recent Powerball drawing.
Marie Ward, of Durham, purchased a $3 Power Play Quick Pick ticket using Online Play for the December 20 Powerball drawing after learning that the jackpot had continued to grow to an impressive size, according to a release from the NC Education Lottery.
"I don't buy tickets very often but the jackpot was growing so I just said, 'Okay I'll give this a try,'" she said.
And it's a good thing too as she learned her ticket matched the numbers on four of the white balls called in the drawing plus the red Powerball to score the $50,000 prize. Thanks to the 2X multiplier, that prize then doubled to land her an impressive $100,000 win.
"It was really early in the morning when I found out," she said. "I woke up my husband to tell him about it. I was very excited."
Ward claimed her prize at lottery headquarters last week where she took home a total of $71,509 after all required state and federal tax withholdings. According to lottery officials, Ward hopes to use her win to go on a cruise and visit somewhere sunny with her husband.
"My husband and I will go on a nice vacation someplace warm," she said. "We will probably go on a cruise, maybe to the Caribbean."