A Powerball ticket worth $100,000 is just a few days away from becoming worthless.
A ticket sold for the Powerball drawing on October 5, 2022 matched four of the five white balls and the red “Powerball.” This qualified the ticket for a $50,000 prize.
Since the ticket purchaser paid $1 extra for the “Power Play” option, the prize was doubled to a cool $100,000. Nice return on investment for that extra dollar!
According to the North Carolina Education Lottery press release, this ticket will expire on Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Who is the lucky winner?
We don’t know, and that is the problem. Whoever bought the ticket has just a few days left to claim the prize before it expires. As of this writing, no one has come forward with the winning ticket.
What were the winning numbers?
The winning numbers are shown in this video of the Powerball drawing on October 5, 2022.
Where was the Powerball $100,000 ticket sold?
The soon-to-expire ticket was sold at Lake Wylie Mini Mart, a North Carolina convenience store. The location is shown on the following map. If you buy lottery tickets at this store, check any that you may have forgotten about.
The original $50,000 could have been as much as $500,000
The Powerball Prize Chart illustrates the impact that extra $1 for the “Power Play” option can have on winnings. In this case, the Power Play number was two, turning the $50,000 prize into $100,000.
But Power Play numbers — determined by a separate drawing before each Powerball drawing — can be as high as ten. That would have resulted in a $500,000 payout from what started out as a $50,000 prize. Which all started out as a $3 ticket purchase.
Power Play has its limitations
There are a couple of limitations to the awesome power of the Power Play, however. Under “How to Play,” the Powerball website says:
“The 10X multiplier is only in play when the advertised jackpot annuity is $150 million or less.”
and
“The Match 5 prize with Power Play is always $2 million.”
Do these limitations make the extra $1 for the Power Play less worthwhile?
Regarding the $150 million jackpot limitation: While the big Powerball jackpots get the headlines, it looks like most of the top prizes are under that amount. I have not made a detailed study of this, however, just a casual look at the past results.
The Power Play does not affect the jackpot. Since most of the prizes are not jackpots, they will be multiplied by at least two with the Power Play option.
Yes, the second-place prize is limited to being doubled, regardless of the Power Play number. In this case, your prize would be “only” an extra million dollars. I believe most of us could live with that!
What is your guess — will the ticket holder claim their prize in time?
They used to call them “cliffhangers,” stories with some dreadful outcome just hanging in the balance. Hopefully, whoever bought this ticket — maybe you? — will find it and cash it in in time. Let me know in the comments if you think this is likely.
I hope you enjoyed this article, even if you aren’t the $100,000 winner! If you give it a “thumbs up” and share it with a friend, thank you for that. Follow me for more content like this. Thanks again!
Comments / 33