Swannanoa man says $100,000 lottery win ‘couldn’t have happened at a better time’

Michael Baldwin of Swannanoa tried his luck on a $3 Power Play ticket and became one of three $100,000 winners in a Dec. 19 drawing.

“This couldn’t have happened at a better time,” he said as he claimed his prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh.

Baldwin purchased his winning ticket from the I Market on N.C. 9 in Black Mountain.

After required federal and state tax withholdings, Baldwin took home $70,751. His winning Power Play ticket matched numbers on four of the white balls and the Powerball to beat odds of 1 in 913,000, winning him $50,000. His prize doubled to $100,000 when a two-times multiplier was drawn.

The jackpot stood at $384 million as of Dec. 31. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292 million.

Ticket sales from scratch-offs have raised more than $725 million per year for education. Players can try their luck and buy Powerball tickets at any lottery retail location, through online play on the lottery’s website, www.nclottery.com, or by using the lottery's official app.